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Black student appears in court after incident at Stingers Dome

A student enters the Stingers Dome. Photo by Kaitlynn Rodney / The Concordian

The student’s journey to defend his name is just beginning.

John, the Black student who was accosted in the Stingers Dome and charged with assault on Dec. 13, appeared in municipal court for the first hearing on March 12. 

John was accompanied by Fo Niemi, the executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) and a family member. The concerned staff person was also present wearing his Stingers jacket, sitting in the last row of the room. 

John was playing soccer in the Stingers Dome when a staff person questioned him several times as to why he was there. A teacher at the Loyola high school came to John’s defense, telling the staff person that John was allowed to play. Two days later, the same staff person yelled racist comments at John, filmed him, and punched him in the face. John left the scene with a cut on the left side of his face and was handcuffed by police. 

John was charged with assault, but pleaded not guilty. One of the defense attorneys urged the judge to proceed expeditiously given the sensitive nature of the case. It appears that Concordia is asking for certain conditions, the extent of which are unknown at this time. 

Niemi told The Concordian in an email that the staff person filed a formal complaint to the Office of Rights and Responsibilities (ORR) against John on Feb.7. The complaint was then forwarded to John on Feb.29. The specific details about the complaint were not disclosed for confidentiality purposes. 

However, in a statement sent to The Concordian, Concordia spokesperson Vannina Maestreacci underlined that “all members of the university (students, staff, faculty) have the right to file a complaint under the Code of Rights and Responsilities against another member.”

“In the case of a formal complaint against a student, the process is through a hearing panel, which determines if a violation of the Code occurred,” Maestreacci said.

In regards to the ORR, Niemi will investigate “their concrete measures to address systemic anti-Black racism, particularly racial profiling, as many elements of the incident of December 2023 have elements of racial profiling.”

Maetreacci sent another statement to The Concordian, stating that the ORR’s policies on filing complaints remain the same “whether anyone involved in a complaint is a person of colour.” 

“When concerns of anti-Black racism are reported in the context of its processes however, the Office of Rights and Responsibilities applies an inter-unit collaborative approach, consulting with the Black Perspectives Office. ORR frequently reviews the recommendations of the President’s Task Force on Anti-Black Racism and implements them where appropriate,” Maestreacci said. 

John’s lawyer was absent at the first hearing, letting this unfair case dangle over his head and forcing the hearing to be rescheduled. In the meantime, Niemi will continue to investigate the potentially racist nature behind John’s arrest and pressure Concordia to take concrete measures to address anti-Black racism on campus.

“One of the systemic issues we will address in the complaint [Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission] is the university’s actions (or lack thereof) in relation to campus security as outlined in page 64 of the action plan to combat anti-Black racism. The January 2024 Progress Report has identified only one action in this regard,” Niemi said. 

The next hearing is scheduled on April 12.

Corrections:

  • In a previous version of the article, it was written in the first paragraph that John appeared in municipal court for the first hearing on March 13. This is not correct. The first hearing was on March 12. It was also written that John was charged with assault on Dec. 23. This isn’t correct, he was charged on Dec. 13. The Concordian takes full responsibility for these errors. We apologize to our readers for these mistakes.
  • In a previous version of the article, it was written in the fifth paragraph that the formal complaint against John by the staff person was filed on Feb. 14. This is not correct. The complaint was filed on Feb. 7 and was later forwarded to John on Feb. 29. The Concordian acknowledges and takes full responsibilities for these errors and we apologize to our readers.
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Two Concordia Students claim they were violently arrested for Jaywalking

Graphic by Carleen Loney / The Concordian

The students will file complaints against the officers for excessive use of force

One night at the end of July, at almost 3 a.m., Concordia PhD students Amaechi Okafor and Wade Paul were walking on Saint-Jacques street, heading towards Okafor’s apartment in NDG. 

As they walked, they saw police cruisers and officers gathered around an individual wrapped in a blanket. Not wanting to interfere with the situation, Okafor and Paul stepped into the street to go around the cruiser, then returned to the sidewalk. 

“We didn’t even cross the road,” said Okafor. “I actually told him: ‘Let’s step on the road and avoid these cars and step back on the sidewalk,’ which we did for a split second. And all of a sudden, we just hear yelling.”

“Next thing I kind of remember, there was a police car coming up onto the sidewalk,” recalled Paul. Okafor said the intervention was “very, very aggressive.”

The officers were speaking French, and while Okafor speaks French, neither student could understand the officers’ accent—Okafor is an international student from Nigeria, and Paul is from St. Mary’s First Nation in New Brunswick. When told this, the officers switched to English and requested to see Okafor’s ID. 

Okafor and Paul asked why they needed his ID, and the officers said that it was because they had been jaywalking. The students asked for clarification, at which point the officers asked to see Paul’s ID as well. 

“They said […] that we were under arrest,” said Paul. “I had my arm kind of twisted, I was thrown up against a fence. I had my rights started to be read to me. I was in full panic mode.”

“The way the arrest went was really strange for me because it’s something I’d never experienced,” said Okafor. He recalls being put to the fence, handcuffed from the back and searched from top to bottom.

He was then put against the cruiser, where the officers spread out his legs so far that his pants ripped and searched him again, he said. This also affected his old knee injuries, and he is still suffering from knee pain a month after the arrest. He said the pain makes it hard for him to walk and work.

“I felt abused. I think that was the word to use. Because I didn’t give them the right to touch me all over where they touched me,” said Okafor.

The students said they were put in separate police cruisers, where they were left alone for 20 minutes. Officers went through their belongings and wallets, and did not explain what was happening. Okafor said they never read him his rights.

Both were fined $49 for jaywalking and $499 for refusing to show their ID. 

Since the incident, Okafor’s family has joined him in Canada. He waited two years before bringing them here, wanting to make sure it was a safe place for them. Now, he fears what happened to him might happen to his three children.

“If my son is 16-17, what would happen if a cop were to stop him like that?” he asks. “I don’t want to lose my son because I’m ambitious.” 

The students have pleaded not guilty to their fine. With the help of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) and its executive director Fo Niemi, they are planning on filing complaints with the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission for Racial Profiling and with the Quebec Police Ethics Commissioner.

“The only down thing is that the law, as it stands right now, will allow these officers not to cooperate with the Police Ethics Commissioner investigation,” explained Niemi. “Because they have the so-called constitutional right to silence. Not to incriminate oneself.”

Niemi is hopeful that the misconduct charges for excessive use of force will go far. “Just the fact that they were handcuffed, that’s a form of force that was used excessively,” he said.

“It all goes far to speak on how unsafe international students should feel,” he said. “Because if that could happen to me, it could happen to any other person.”

After hearing his story, other international students told him that they were worried about their own safety.

Niemi stressed the importance of speaking out about these situations. “Just because you’re international students, it doesn’t mean you have less rights when it comes to this.”

The SPVM declined to comment on the intervention.

Infographic by Carleen Loney / The Concordian
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Journalists arrested for reporting on 1492 Land Back Lane

Ontario Provincial Police arrest journalists after tension rises at 1492 Land Back Lane

Karl Dockstader, a member of the Oneida Nation and journalist, was arrested on Sept. 2 while covering the occupation of the land development Mackenzie Meadows. Dockstader is an award-winning journalist who works for One Dish, One Mic.

The day after Dockstader’s arrest, Courtney Skye, who is Six Nations and a freelance journalist, was also arrested. The independent media outlet Azaadi Now has also made a statement that one of their production members was arrested on Sept. 9.

Since July, Land Defenders have occupied land along the Haldimand Tract, bordering the town of Caledonia and the Six Nations reserve, near Toronto. The occupation is referred to as ‘1492 Land Back Lane,’ referencing the year Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, beginning centuries of colonization.

The Haldimand Tract was granted in 1784 to the Six Nations after they had allied with the British during the American Revolution.

“Through a series of colonial manoeuvres, the land is now slated for a housing development named Mackenzie Meadows,” noted Shree Paradkar, writer for The Star.

The Land Defenders assert that the land is rightfully theirs, yet Haldimand County Mayor Ken Hewitt claimed in a public statement that no land was stolen, and everyone has legally paid for the land they own. Mayor Hewitt stated that he believes the federal government is responsible for any mismanagement of land claims.

“I am tired of hearing about stolen land and that we are guilty of stealing land,” he wrote. “I look forward to the peaceful end to this ILLEGAL occupation, and I will not support lifting the injunctions until all roads, railings and property are completely vacated.”

The injunction was granted by the Supreme Court in July, calling for Land Defenders to leave the development. Then on Aug. 5, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) attempted to clear out the Land Defenders, who resisted by setting construction equipment ablaze and barricading roads.

This resulted in the OPP firing rubber bullets at the crowds — which can cause severe injuries and, in rare cases, death.

A press release regarding Dockstader’s arrest stated that he was arrested for mischief and failure to comply with the court order.

“He understood that as a journalist, as long as he didn’t actively assist the land defenders that his status as a journalist would protect his work,” read the statement.

Dockstader had partnered with Canadaland to explore the systemic anti-Indigenous racism in the RCMP and the OPP, and how those issues are at play at 1492 Land Back Lane, where he was arrested.

Skye, who was charged similarly to Dockstader, tweeted, “I was sitting on the banks of the Grand River with my auntie/sis. I was literally arrested within feet of our river in my homelands.”

“To me it’s fairly cut and dry that this is an overreach of the OPP,” said Alan Conter, a journalism professor at Concordia. Conter believes that the OPP overstepped and never should have arrested the journalists.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. Conter stated that there is legal precedent from the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal ensuring that journalists aren’t barred from areas with injunctions and are safe from arrest during demonstrations.

“Another overreach by the police in terms of criminalizing journalistic behavior,” said Conter.

Conter said he will be flabbergasted if Dockstader’s appeal against his charges don’t go in his favour, yet Conter admits that it’s never a good idea to guess what will happen.

“The OPP should drop the charges and save Ontario justice from the embarrassment,” he said.

Conter said that it’s vitally important that journalism students are taught about how the authority of police are used to block investigations, and not just for Indigenous issues. He believes that if a journalist is facing aggression and detainment from the police, the best thing to do is to comply and then take the police to court afterwards.

“It’s an attack, in civil society the media is one of the pillars of society,” said Dr. Catherine Richardson, a Métis director of the First Peoples Studies at Concordia. Dr. Richardson said that the media gives accurate accounts and informs the public on issues and events, an integral aspect of democracy.

“Arresting journalists is another way of stifling dissent,” she said. “It serves the interests of the elite to stop journalists reporting.”

Dr. Richardson believes that one of the reasons the police are becoming more militarized is because of the rise of the right wing, and that some of the wealthy elite invest in this militarization to police Indigenous movements.

When asked if she believes only Indigenous journalists should report on issues like 1492 Land Back Lane, she explained that while non-Indigeous journalists don’t have the same inside perspective as Indigenous reporters, non-Indigenous people usually have the advantage of more access to resources, money, and legal aid.

She said the most important thing that non-Indigenous journalists must do is their research to better understand the complexity of Indigenous issues.

 

Visuals by Taylor Reddam

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