The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) is calling on the RCMP to lay charges after a man was attacked Sunday in Battleford, Sask., about 125 kilometers northwest of Saskatoon. FSIN, which represents Saskatchewan First Nations, made the call in a press release Tuesday. “We are sickened and saddened by the anger, violence and racism brought to our backyard,” Eleanore Sunchild, a high-profile lawyer who owns the land where the attack took place, said in the FSIN statement. Colby Tootoosis, 40, a friend of Sunchild’s, towed a borrowed trailer while his six-year-old daughter sat in his truck. Surveillance video from the home shows a man approaching Tootoosis and punching him in the face. The man then pulls Tootoosis to the ground by his braid and knees him in the face. The man repeatedly yells, “where are my pants?” Two other men were there but did not take part in the attack. Watch surveillance video of the attack:
Sask. man is attacked while uncoupling trailer
WARNING: This video may disturb some viewers. This surveillance video, taken in Battleford, Sask., and provided by Eleanore Sunchild, shows three men approaching another as he unhooks a trailer. One proceeds to punch him and pull him to the ground by his braid. In a written statement on social media, Tootoosis said he believed the man was looking for a stolen phone, bag and pants. Tootoosis said the men told him they had tracked the phone to the location it was in.
Racially motivated assault: FSIN, Eleanore Sunchild
Sunchild and FSIN say what happened to Tootoosis, who is from the Poundmaker Cree Nation, was racially motivated. “A guy jumps on him and brutally attacks him and pulls him by his braid and holds him to the ground. That to me screams racism,” Sunchild told CBC News on Tuesday. “If it was a non-native… I don’t think they would have attacked him.” Colby Tootoosis was attacked in Battleford on Sunday. Indigenous leaders say the attack was racially motivated. (Submitted by Mylan Tootoosis) Sunchild said she provided the RCMP with additional surveillance footage showing another man riding a bicycle in the alley behind her property and dropping something. He said the video also shows the three men who were present during the attack finding a bag with a phone in the parking lot behind her home. “They find the bag and then they go back down the road. And then Colby arrives to return the trailer. He stands out there and unhooks it. And then these guys come in. The one guy assaulted him,” Sunchild said. Tootoosis’ brother, Mylan Tootoosis, said Colby’s face is swollen around the nose and he has a bit of a black eye. “He feels physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted,” Mylan said in an interview with CBC. “What really bothered me is that he targeted the hair. That’s a no-no in Indigenous culture.” RCMP say no charges have been laid at this time. “Investigations are taking time to complete,” Saskatchewan RCMP wrote in a statement. “North Battleford RCMP are continuing their investigation into this incident, including working to locate and locate the suspects involved.” Betty Nippi-Albright, the NDP’s critic for First Nations and Métis Relations and Truth and Reconciliation, said she was “absolutely appalled” by the incident and that “racism has no place in our province.” He said “it’s heartbreaking that a six-year-old is witnessing this unprovoked attack. Unfortunately, attacks like this happen all too often in Saskatchewan. I stand with the FSIN in calling for a swift investigation and appropriate charges.” “I am also asking the people of Saskatchewan to write their MLAs and demand immediate action on the disproportionate levels of violence facing Indigenous peoples,” said Betty Nippi-Albright.
