Race should not be a factor when dealing with offenders, says Six Nations police chief

Indigenous offenders should not get special treatment at the expense of public safety, says the chief of Six Nations Police.

It is a bold statement from a man who was born and raised on the reserve that is now his jurisdiction. He has spent his entire policing career at Six Nations.

It doesn't matter what the race of the person is," says police Chief Darren Montour. Look at the history of the person.

My thing is protecting the public."

Specifically, Montour is looking at the history of Randall McKenzie. He is the 25-year-old repeat violent offender who was out on bail when he allegedly shot and killed an OPP officer near Hagersville.

Montour says it was wrong to grant him bail.

Six Nations Police were responsible for ensuring McKenzie complied with his conditions while he lived with his mother on the reserve. But the chief says he doesn't have enough officers to monitor for bail breaches.

McKenzie, who is of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, was in custody facing charges in connection to intimate partner violence involving an unloaded gun when he was first denied bail by a justice of the peace who deemed him too dangerous to release.

Six months later, McKenzie had a bail review in front of Justice Harrison Arrell of the Superior Court.

Arrell concluded that McKenzie should be given special consideration because he is Indigenous.

It is a well-known fact that such individuals are overrepresented in our prison system," said Arrell, especially in pretrial custody, because of their challenges with poverty, lack of education and addiction issues. All of these factors are present in this case. I am confident the public would conclude that the current strict plan of house arrest, supervised by the accused's mother, with independent monitoring and counselling is a reasonable restraint on the accused's liberty until trial."

The Supreme Court of Canada compels judges to apply Gladue principles - which give special consideration to the unique circumstances of Indigenous offenders.

Montour takes issue with that.

Arrell was just doing what he has been directed to do, says Montour. It's the Supreme Court's decisions around Indigenous offenders that are the problem.

I understand there's procedures under the general principles that the Supreme Court has passed on and the courts have to follow," says Montour. But I've questioned this before in court. I understand the Gladue principles, but I also understand the need for public safety. And when does Gladue outweigh public safety?"

Montour says McKenzie is Indigenous, but he is also violent. His criminal history demonstrates that.

On Six Nations, probably 95 per cent of the time the offender is Indigenous as well as the victim," he says. There's got to be some sort of an avenue for victims to feel safe in this community."

Montour understands better than most the hardships suffered by Indigenous offenders. He is not discounting those realities.

I totally understand the over-incarceration of Indigenous people," he says. It all stems from the intergenerational trauma of the residential school era in this country ... There's intergenerational trauma that's passed down. The crime and the addiction is a residual effect of all of that."

Weeks after being released, McKenzie allegedly cut off his ankle monitor and skipped bail.

While on the run, Hamilton police suspected McKenzie was involved in other crimes, including a stabbing and two cars that were taken.

On Dec. 27, OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala, 28, was shot while trying to help with a car stuck in a ditch near Hagersville.

Within hours McKenzie was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. So was his companion, Brandi Stewart-Sperry, 30. She was wanted on a 30-month-old arrest warrant at the time of the shooting.

For Montour and his 39 officers, Pierzchala's murder is personal.

Some of the younger officers here knew him," says Montour.

The bail system and the law's provisions for Indigenous offenders is a very complicated and heartfelt matter," for Six Nations Police, says the chief. In light of what happened with Greg, I don't want to see another police officer or anyone else get killed by someone released on conditions that, in the opinion of coppers on the street, should have been in custody."

Susan Clairmont is a justice columnist at The Spectator. sclairmont@thespec.com