Regina man claims racial profiling by police officers

An aboriginal man in Regina – whom the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) found to be justified in his account of police using excessive force against him – is also claiming he’s the victim of racial profiling.

The PCC recently rendered its decision regarding Simon Ash-Moccasin’s case. It found his claims of excessive force were substantiated after he was stopped and handcuffed by two officers in December 2014.

“Since then I have been working on healing and working on justice and accountability within the force and within the city here as well,” he said at Regina City Hall Monday morning.

Ash-Moccasin was there to deliver a letter for the mayor. He wanted to meet with Mayor Michael Fougere to outline his concerns. His ultimate goal is to see what he believes is racism in the Queen City put to an end.

“This goes on out there on the streets of Regina. This needs to stop. There needs to be accountability. There needs to be justice,” he stated.

He added part of that is accomplished through educational training.

While the two officers involved in the case weren’t disciplined, Chief Troy Hagen did say there would be additional training for them, along with every officer in the service.

Hagen apologized to Ash-Moccasin, calling it an error. Under the circumstances, the chief said it was more of a training deficiency.

Ash-Moccasin explained how he did not match the description of the suspect police were looking for on the night of the incident, other than being aboriginal.

He has filed a formal complaint with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission over this most-recent altercation. He said he’s also seeking mediation with police.

Fougere said he was in meetings when he heard Ash-Moccasin wanted to get together, adding he’ll consider sitting down with him. He confirmed he received the letter and is currently reviewing its contents.

Due to the possibility of pending litigation on the issue, the mayor said he would reserve comment on some aspects of this case. He did say he doesn’t see any evidence of racial profiling based on this incident that he’s aware of after seeing the PCC’s report, adding he believes the complaints commission works.