A Long Road to Justice October 4 Marks 4 Years and Counting for Family of Max Kakegamic

October 4 … four years later and counting for the family of Max Kakegamic … on the Road to Justice

In the early morning hours of October 4, 2000, Max Kakegamic of North Spirit Lake was found dead in a heap beside a downtown building in Kenora.

Four years later no one has taken responsibility or been held accountable in this violent taking of a young man’s life.

Within days of Max’s fatal end, someone was arrested and charged with murder, charges later reduced to manslaughter. After two mistrials, the most recent one in March 2004, charges were stayed, for reasons outlined by Justice Hambly in a 56 page brief.

Four years later and hundreds of miles away from the Kenora courthouse, peace and justice now seem remote for Max’s parents, Margaret and Isaac Kakegamic, his widow, Karen and other family members. For the past four months, they have been looking for a lawyer to help them, with no luck so far. (The accused in Max’s death already has legal representation for a civil case on his behalf.)

Four years later, on September 16, the local newspaper in Kenora runs a front page article, headlined “Report into Conduct of Police Officers Still Pending: Waiting is hurting morale” highlighting the stress caused to the Kenora Police Service by the delays in investigating their role in the mishandling of the case. The waiting and the hurt experienced by Max Kakegamic’s family was not newsworthy; his name was not even mentioned.

Margaret, Max’s mother is determined to account for her son’s death, for their voices to be heard, “I want justice to be served ... for the higher powers to do something for those who feel a blow like this, for the victims”.

Another mother in Kenora told me that just last week her 16 year old son wandered, drunk, into someone else’s house as he tried to make his way home. When the police called her, she felt a flood of dismay and relief at the same time. Dismayed at her son’s behaviour and what to do about it, but recalling the death of Max Kakegamic, relieved that the home owners had called the authorities rather take justice into their own hands.

It’s all a little too close to home. It is both personal and political. The death of Max Kakegamic calls us to reflect, and to act.

This case represents to many of us the heartbreak experienced by hundreds of families in every reserve, town and city across our region for more than a generation. And it spotlights the greater tragedy of the blind eye and unresponsive bystander phenomena so common in this neck of the woods. Most of society ignores or dismisses the obviously overwhelming burden on aboriginal people, who live with or die from accidents, murder, and suicides in staggering numbers. In 1973 a Concerned Citizens Committee in Kenora described it this way: Our computers may calculate for us the extent to which sudden deaths, violence and alcohol abuse afflict Indian Canadians while whites live relatively trouble-free lives. But until we find this morally offensive and unacceptable, we will continue to view the situation with cold detachment. … We must act. NOW

The Anishinaabe Peace & Justice Coalition of Kenora was formed in April to “act NOW”, thirty years later, to take up the personal and political challenge these violent deaths present to our community. Our purpose is “to focus efforts on creating safety and dignity for aboriginal people in the city of Kenora”.

We all have a long way to go toward a system of justice that serves and protects, not its own self-interests, but those who need it the most.

And we look forward down the road to being part of a community that looks out for each other with compassion rather than detachment. Where we turn to see people standing up, speaking out and acting with us against violence and injustice, rather than turning away.

Among other things, we remember Max and support the Kakegamic family in their quest for peace and justice whether through a civil case, a public inquiry, protest or publicity.

On Sunday, October 3, the Coalition will be hosting a dinner in Kenora, with the Kakegamic family as guests, to keep the spotlight on the real victims.

Sometimes I stop in the midst of all this and remind myself and others that even though there is a long way to go in the journey for justice, we are all doing our best … police officers, neighbours, lawyers, bystanders, street people, judges, elected leaders, and paid professionals.

October 4, 2004, at 8:30 a.m. we will be remembering Max Kakegamic, standing with his family, in front of the courthouse and on the streets of Kenora, with a police escort, because we know we can all do better … four years later.