Wawatay News Commentary September 25, 2004
Guest Columnist: Mary Alice Smith
Kakegamic death spotlights society’s ‘blind eye’
It’s been almost four years since Max Kakegamic was found dead on a street in Kenora, and those years are still being counted by Max’s family who are still seeking justice.
In the early morning hours of October 4, 2000, Max Kakegamic of North Spirit Lake was found dead beside a downtown building in Kenora.
Four years later, no one has taken responsibility or been held accountable for the violent taking of a young man’s life.
Within days of Max’s fatal end, someone was arrested and charged with murder. The charges were later reduced to manslaughter.
After two mistrials, the most recent one in March 2004, the charges were stayed for reasons outlined by Justice Peter Hambly in a 55 page ruling. Hambly found that Kenora police officers had lied under oath and withheld evidence in the manslaughter case.
Hundreds of miles away from the Kenora courthouse, in North Spirit Lake, the peace and justice brought by Max’s family now seem just as remote as the community they live in. Margaret and Issac Kakegamic, Max’s parents, have, for the last four months, been searching for a lawyer to help them, but with no luck yet.
It’s interesting to note that the accused in Max’s death already has legal representation for a civil case launched on his behalf.
A Kenora newspaper’s September 16, 2004 front page headline blasted, “Report into Conduct of Police Officers Still Pending: Waiting is Hurting Morale.” The article highlighted the stress being felt, at the time, by the Kenora Police Service from the delays in an investigation that was taking place about their role in the mishandling of the case.
Why wasn’t the waiting and the hurt being experienced by the Kakegamic family not newsworthy? Max’s name was not even mentioned in the article.
Margaret, Max’s mother is determined to hold someone accountable for her son’s death. “I want justice to be served,” she said, “for the higher powers to do something for those who feel a blow like this, for the victims.”
Another mother in Kenora told me 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 dismayed and relieved at the same time: dismayed at her son’s behaviour and relieved that the home owners had called the authorities rather than taking justice into their own hands.
The death of Max Kakegamic calls us to not only reflect but 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. It spotlights the greater tragedy of people turning a blind eye and it highlights the unresponsive bystander phenomena so common in this neck of the woods.
Most of society ignores or dismisses the obvious and overwhelming burden being placed on Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people who live with the loss of their loved ones who have died, in staggering numbers, through accidents, murders, and suicides.
In 1973, a Concerned Citizens Committee in Kenora described the phenomena 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. Until we find this morally offensive and unacceptable, we will continue to view the situation with cold detachment…We must act. NOW.”
The Anishinabe Peace & Justice Coalition of Kenora was formed in April to “act NOW,” to take up the personal and political challenges presented by these violent deaths. Our purpose is “to focus on creating safety and dignity for Aboriginal people in the city of Kenora.”
We all have along way to go in order to have a justice system that serves and protects.
As we look to the future, I hope it’s a future that means I’m part of a community that looks out for each other with compassion rather than detachment. I hope it’s future where we’ll see people standing up, speaking out, and acting with us against violence and injustice.
Let’s remember Max and support the Kakegamic family in their quest for peace and justice, whether they seek that justice through a civil case, a public inquiry, protest or through the media.
On October 3, the coalition will be hosting a dinner in Kenora, with the Kakegamic family as guest, in an effort to help keep the spotlight on the real victims.
Sometimes I stop, for a moment, in the midst of all this and remind myself that even though there is a long way to go, we are all doing our best : police officers, neighbours, lawyers, bystanders, street people, judges, elected leaders, and paid professionals alike.
Join us on October 4, 2004, at 8:30 a.m. as we remember Max Kakegamic. We will be standing with his family, in front of the courthouse on the streets of Kenora, with a police escort, because we know we call do better, four years later.