CPTnet
28 February 2005
KENORA: Raising Questions, Completing Highway Signs
by Nathan Bender and Karl Stutzman
Travelers entering Kenora, Ontario on the Trans-Canada
Highway see signs announcing that the city is a
"Designated Safe Community." Christian Peacemaker
Team member Matt Schaaf (Winnipeg, MB) commented on
the signs in a dinner conversation with community
members and CPT delegates one evening. "Safe for
whom?" he asked.
Some members of the native Anishinabe community have
experienced abuse at the hands Kenora's police. Many
are wary of racism as they live and do business in
Kenora. As CPT members talked with members of Kenora's
Anishinabe Peace and Justice Coalition, they found
that "Safe for whom?" was a poignant question.
The courts are hearing a suit alleging that the
Kenora's police mismanaged the investigation into the
still-unsolved beating death of Max Kakegamic, an
Aboriginal man. "The fact that Max's murder is still
unsolved after four years is one sign of the disregard
shown for First Nations people in Kenora," one friend
of CPT told a local reporter.
CPT members and delegates decided to meet for a prayer
vigil at the downtown site where Kakegamic's body was
found and to install a sign saying "safe for whom?"
below one of the City's "Designated Safe Community"
signs. Local friends joined the team for both actions
25 February 2005. "We decided that adding this
question to the signs...would be a good way to let
people know that Kenora isnt safe for everyone," said
Stephanie Sakanee (Morson, ON).
"We have talked to...people who are skilled at
training others in antiracism and de-escalation of
violence" said CPT delegate Karl Stutzman. "The police
have a difficult job; they deserve to have these
skills." Local citizens have also called for a
trusted independent complaints process to address the
concerns Anishinabe citizens have with police.
While activists in Kenora expressed appreciation for
CPTs role in raising awareness, the town's mayor, Dave
Canfield, told the Winnipeg Free Press that CPT's
action was inflaming tempers in town. According to the
Free Press, Canfield would rather focus on the
recreational opportunities that draw Canadian and
American tourists to Kenora each summer.
CPT Kenora team members are Matt Schaaf (Winnipeg,
MB), Stephani Sakanee (northwest Ontario), and Jerry
Park (Washington, DC). Members of the February 18-27
delegation include Jerry Stein (Amarillo, TX), Karl
Stutzman (Goshen, IN), Nathan Bender (Toronto, ON),
and Maryann Harder (Mountain Lake, MN). CPT is a
violence-reduction project sponsored by Mennonite and
Brethren churches and Friends meetings in the USA and
Canada.
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