Why there are teepees on the lawn across from the legislature in Regina is likely a more important question than why the teepees are still there.
After having at least one teepee there for nearly five months now, many are asking: Why are police unwilling to enforce the bylaws prohibiting them? Are the First Nation protestors getting special treatment?
With all due respect, these are the wrong questions.
If this were a simple matter of bylaw enforcement, it is the Provincial Capital Commission — the provincial body that replaced the old city-provincial Wascana Centre Authority that used to administer this city park — that has dropped the ball.
While the PCC successfully got the police to remove the original teepee last month, it likely should have requested the campsite be cleared in February when it was first erected in response to the Gerald Stanley not guilty verdict.
It didn’t, perhaps because the Saskatchewan Party and the PCC recognized the sensitivity of the situation.
One might recall the entire province was a bit of a powder keg after the not-well-understood verdict in the death of Red Pheasant Cree Nation resident Colten Boushie. Certainly, Premier Scott Moe deserves much credit for reaching out to Boushie’s family and the First Nation community as a whole to create better understanding.
Nevertheless, the protestors still felt a need to be heard, to educate others on their issues including the historic treatment of Aboriginal children and maybe even heal a little themselves.
The legislative grounds are a place where people sometimes go to be heard by exercising their free speech, whether we necessarily agree with what they have to say or not. This expression comes in the form of protest. And, quite often, the protestors violate park bylaws or perhaps even other laws.
The latter was clearly the case in February 2000 when farmers demanding $300 million from the provincial government and a billion dollars, overall, stormed the legislature, chained the front doors and then conducted a nine day-and-night sit in.
The Regina police let them be, even though they were obviously conducting a far more serious trespassing offence. It ended when the protest leaders, themselves, asked the police to break it up when things were getting out of control. (There was talk of threats being uttered.)
Yes, this current protest camp has been around for much too long. Yes, it has grown in the past couple weeks at the encouragement of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) after the Regina Police removed the initial protestors and got them to temporarily take down the original teepee.
One fears that the longer this camp stays, the greater chance for resentment, or worse, unpleasant confrontation. The camp leadership should be cognizant of this.
But it does seem clear the Regina police have acted wisely so as to avoid confrontation.
And while there are those who will rightly argue that some of the protestors’ demands can’t be met, maybe it would serve us all well to take a moment to listen to what they are actually asking.
At a meeting with provincial cabinet last week, the protestors laid out a wish list of things they wanted.
Some are less feasible, like a moratorium on adoption and any expansion of the foster care system.
But others seem rather reasonable. They have asked for: “clear data on the number of children in child care and the duration of their care,” a “review of all permanent wards,” examination of “the use of in-home supervision in lieu of apprehension,” a “full report on child care,” a cabinet visit to the Red Pheasant Cree Nation, as promised, and a “cost analysis” of children in care with more economical alternatives in mind.
This is why the protest teepees are there. We should at least try to understand that.
