Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 3, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A9THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022 C M Y K PAGE A9 NEWS I CANADA / WORLD LIAM RICHARDS / THE CANADIAN PRESS Kyla Frenchman, right, mother of Tanner Brass, is comforted by her sister during a news conference organized by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations in Saskatoon on Wednesday. Dead toddler’s mom wants police fired over domestic dispute response A N Indigenous woman in Saskatch-ewan wants police officers fired over their response to a domes- tic dispute in which she says she was detained and her 13-month-old son left with a man accused of killing him. “No mother should ever have to go through this. No mother should have to feel this pain,” Kyla Frenchman said in a statement Wednesday. “He was such a happy baby who was always smiling.” The Prince Albert Police Service re- sponded to Frenchman’s home on the morning of Feb. 10. The Federation of Sovereign Indigen- ous Nations, speaking on Frenchman’s behalf, alleges officers racially profiled her and accused her of being drunk. It says they detained her and left the tod- dler with his father. “They locked her up, lied, and said she was drunk when she was not. This is criminal negligence that would be disgusting in any country,” federation vice-chief Dutch Lerat said in Saska- toon. “They didn’t care about the safety of the First Nations baby.” Kaij Brass was subsequently charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tanner Brass. He was arrested after police received a phone call and re- turned to the home about five hours af- ter their first visit. The federation, which represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan, said po- lice didn’t do a welfare check on Tanner or bring in the Ministry of Social Ser- vices. Federation Chief Bobby Cameron said Frenchman made the initial 911 call be- cause she was fearful for their safety. “When Kyla put the call in, it was clear, she said (to police) ‘my baby’. They get to the residence and detain her. Again she said ‘my baby.’ In the cop car, she said ‘my baby’ and in the cells, she said ‘my baby,’” Cameron said. Frenchman, the federation and other Indigenous groups are calling for the officers involved in the initial response to be fired, along with Prince Albert po- lice Chief Jonathan Bergen. Cameron, who accused officers of be- ing racist against Indigenous peoples, wants Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Poli- cing to investigate the Prince Albert Police Service. “The officers would have taken the ut- most care and attention if that baby was white, but we’re First Nation and we’re being subjected to horrendous, ignorant behaviour from these types of officers,” Cameron said. “We’re angry. And we expect and demand justice and immediate change and immediate results.” The Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission is investigating how police responded to the call. Bergen requested the investigation. “The message is received loud and clear, and we are acknowledging we have much work to do to build back the trust and confidence of the community that we serve,” Bergen said Wednesday. He said the two officers who re- sponded to the family dispute were jun- ior members with less than five years experience combined. Both remain in their roles and, pend- ing completion of the investigation, it will be decided if discipline is neces- sary, Bergen said. Since the toddler’s death, Bergen has appointed a new inspector to oversee the service’s patrol section. He said that before the change, the inspector on duty was responsible for managing multiple areas, including the patrol division, police detention and custody. “As we look at inter-partner violence and our response as a police service to it, we know there’s a number of areas we can improve,” Bergen said. “That’s where we’re focusing on with the im- mediate structure change that has oc- curred.” The FSIN has called for changes at the Prince Albert police since last year following the deaths of three Indigen- ous men in custody. Thunderchild First Nation Chief James Snakeskin said the toddler’s death has affected many other First Na- tions. “This is plain racism and it’s hard to see this child’s life was lost because of that,” he said in a statement. “This has traumatized many people and it’s sad to know things like this are still happen- ing.” — The Canadian Press MICKEY DJURIC Ottawa convoy participant seeks court review OTTAWA — Tamara Lich, one of the most prominent organizers of the Ot- tawa convoy that gridlocked the city’s streets for over three weeks, says the judge who denied her bail was biased against her cause and has asked the court to review the decision. Lich was arrested Feb. 17 and charged with counselling mischief, the day before police moved in to disperse crowds in downtown Ottawa using pow- ers invoked under the federal Emergen- cies Act. Ontario Court Justice Julie Bour- geois denied Lich bail on Feb. 22, hav- ing deemed the convoy organizer a risk to reoffend. In her decision at the time, Bourgeois said she felt Lich was obstin- ate and disingenuous in her responses to the court, and that her detention was “necessary for the protection and safe- ty of the public.” In court Wednesday, Lich’s lawyer filed an affidavit on her behalf that said had she known Bourgeois was a Liberal candidate in the 2011 federal election, she would have asked the justice to re- cuse herself from the case. “Had I had that information before- hand, I would have felt uncomfortable with the situation,” Lich told the court Wednesday. She spent the majority of the hear- ing sitting up straight in the accused dock with her hands folded in her lap, her blond hair in a high bun and a mask over her face. While protests in downtown Ottawa were mainly aimed at COVID-19 re- strictions and vaccine mandates, dem- onstrators also took aim at Prime Min- ister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal party with profane flags and slogans. Lich’s lawyer, Diane Magas, also argued that Bourgeois repeatedly referred to the impact of the protest on “our community” in her decision to keep Lich in jail. “If a justice feels impacted in our community, in her community, in my submission she should not sit. There should be an out of town judge,” Magas told the court. Fellow protest organizer Chris Bar- ber, who travelled by convoy from Al- berta to Ottawa with Lich, was arrested the same day as her and charged with mischief, counselling to commit mis- chief, to disobey a court order and to obstruct police. He was granted bail on Feb. 18 by the same justice who initially ordered Lich to remain in custody. Crown counsel Moiz Karimjee said the allegation against Bourgeois is “frivolous,” and suggested that Lich lied when she said she would have asked for another judge. “Really? When the day before, the judge released her friend Mr. Barber?” Karimjee asked the court. “That allega- tion has no merit whatsoever, and indi- cates that Ms. Lich is capable of lying under oath.” Wednesday’s bail review hearing was delayed slightly as hundreds of spec- tators attempted to log into the video conference carrying the proceedings, and flooded the chat with messages of support. Lich has been described as the pub- lic face of the protest. One of the law- yers assisting the demonstrators called Lich “the spark that lit this fire and the leader of this organization” at a news conference less than one week into the Ottawa protest. Lich led the GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $10 million for the so-called Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa, before the website pulled the plug on the campaign and refunded donations, citing local political leaders’ concerns the demonstration had be- come an “occupation.” In order to reopen Lich’s bail hearing, the judge would have to find Bourgeois made an “error in law” or that the cir- cumstances have changed. Magas said Bourgeois made an error when she said Lich was a danger to the public, as Lich advocated for peaceful protest and has not been charged with a violent offence. “There’s been no suggestions of vio- lence, intimidation, threats, destruction of property of any sorts by Ms. Lich, or even her encouraging such activities,” Magas said. The Crown argued there have been no errors made, and the circumstances surrounding Lich’s bail application have not changed. Karimjee said to release Lich into the community would send the message that people can “flagrantly breach the rule of law, show no respect, no genuine respect for the law.” A decision is expected Monday. Other key figures in the Ottawa pro- test, Pat King and Daniel Bulford, were denied bail for charges related to their role in the protests over the risk they would reoffend. — The Canadian Press LAURA OSMAN ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Tamara Lich (right) was arrested Feb. 17 and charged with counselling mischief, the day before police moved in to disperse crowds in downtown Ottawa using powers invoked under the federal Emergencies Act. Jan. 6 panel claims Trump engaged in ‘criminal conspiracy’ ERIC TUCKER, FARNOUSH AMIRI AND MARY CLARE JALONICK WASHINGTON — The House Commit- tee investigating the U.S. Capitol insur- rection said Wednesday night that its evidence shows former president Don- ald Trump and his associates engaged in a “criminal conspiracy” to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election, spread false information about it and pressured state officials to overturn the results. The committee made the claims in a filing in response to a lawsuit by Trump adviser John Eastman. Eastman, a law- yer who was consulting with Trump as he attempted to overturn the election, is trying to withhold documents from the committee as it investigates the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The commit- tee argued there is a legal exception allowing the disclosure of communi- cations regarding ongoing or future crimes. “The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Cam- paign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the com- mittee wrote in a filing submitted in U.S. District Court in the Central Dis- trict of California. The 221-page filing marks the com- mittee’s most formal effort to link the former president to a federal crime, though the actual import of the filing is not clear since lawmakers do not have the power to bring charges on their own and can only make a referral to the Justice Department. The department has been investigating last year’s riot, but has not given any indication that it is considering seeking charges against Trump. “The evidence supports an inference that President Trump and members of his campaign knew he had not won enough legitimate state electoral votes to be declared the winner of the 2020 Presidential election during the Janu- ary 6 Joint Session of Congress, but the President nevertheless sought to use the Vice President to manipulate the re- sults in his favor,” the filing states. The brief filed Wednesday was in an effort by the committee to refute at- torney-client privilege claims made by Eastman in order to withhold records from congressional investigators. “The Select Committee is not con- ducting a criminal investigation,” Mis- sissippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said in a statement. “But, as the judge noted at a previous hearing, Dr. East- man’s privilege claims raise the ques- tion whether the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege applies in this situation.” The filing also details excerpts from the committee’s interviews with sever- al top Trump aides and members of for- mer Vice President Mike Pence’s team, including chief of staff Marc Short and chief counsel Greg Jacob. The committee said it found evidence that Trump sought to obstruct an offi- cial proceeding — in this case, the cer- tification of the election results — by trying to strongarm Pence to delay the proceedings so there would be addition- al time to “manipulate” the results. In a Jan. 6, 2021, email exchange be- tween Eastman and Jacob, Eastman pushes for Pence to intervene in his ceremonial role of overseeing the cer- tification of the electoral votes. Jacob replies: “I respect your heart here. I share your concerns about what Democrats will do once in power. I want election integrity fixed. But I have run down every legal trail placed before me to its conclusion, and I respectfully con- clude that as a legal framework, it is a results-oriented position that you would never support if attempted by the op- position, and essentially entirely made up.” He added, “And thanks to your bulls—-, we are now under siege.” In other transcripts released as part of the filing, former senior Justice De- partment official Richard Donoghue described trying to convince Trump that claims of election fraud were pure fiction. “I told the President myself that several times, in several conversations, that these allegations about ballots be- ing smuggled in a suitcase and run through the machines several times, it was not true, that we had looked at it, we looked at the video, we interviewed the witnesses, and it was not true.” At one point, Donoghue said, he had to reassure Trump that the Justice Department had investigated a report that someone has transported a tractor- trailer full of ballots from New York to Pennsylvania. The department found no evidence to support the allegations, Donoghue said. — The Associated Press A_09_Mar-03-22_FP_01.indd 9 2022-03-02 9:39 PM ;