Warning: Story contains video that may be disturbing to viewers
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) is calling on the RCMP to lay charges after a man was attacked Sunday in Battleford, Sask., about 125 kilometers northwest of Saskatoon.
FSIN, which represents Saskatchewan First Nations, made the call in a news release Tuesday.
“We are disgusted and saddened by the anger, violence and racism that has been brought into our backyard,” Eleanor Sunchild, a prominent attorney who owns the land where the attack took place, said in the FSIN release.
Colby Toutosis, 40, a friend of Sunchild’s, was unhooking a trailer he had borrowed while his six-year-old daughter sat in his truck.
Surveillance video from the home shows a man approach Tootoosis and punch him in the face. The man then pulls Tutosis to the ground by his braid and knees him in the face.
The man repeatedly yells, “Where are my fucking pants?”
Two other men were there but did not take part in the attack.
Check out the security camera video of the attack:
Sask. a man is attacked while uncoupling the trailer
WARNING: This video may disturb some viewers. This surveillance video, taken in Battleford, Sask., and provided by Eleanor Sunchild, shows three men approaching another as he unhooks a trailer. One continues to hit him and drag him to the ground by his braid.
In a written statement on social media, Tutosis said he believed the man was looking for a phone, purse and pants that had been stolen.
Tutosis said the men told him they tracked the phone to where it was.
Racial Assault: FSIN, Eleanor Sunchild
Sunchild and FSIN say what happened to Tootoosis, who is from the Poundmaker Cree Nation, was racially motivated.
“A man jumps over and brutally attacks him and pulls him by his braid and holds him down. That to me screams racism,” Sunchild told CBC News on Tuesday.
“If he was a non-native… I don’t think they would have attacked him.”
Colby Tootoosis was attacked in Battleford on Sunday. Indigenous leaders say the attack was racially motivated. (Submitted by Mylan Tootoosis)
Sunchild said she provided the RCMP with additional surveillance footage that shows another man riding a bicycle down the driveway behind her property and leaving something. She said the video also shows the three men present during the attack finding a bag with a phone in a shed at the back of her home.
“They find the bag and then they go back to the street. And then Colby arrives to return the trailer. He stands there and freaks it out. And then those guys come in. The one person attacked him,” Sunchild said.
Toutosis’ brother, Milan Toutosis, said Colby’s face was swollen around his nose and that he had a small bruise on his eye.
“He feels physically, mentally and emotionally drained,” Mylan said in an interview with CBC.
“What really disturbed me was the fact that he targeted the hair. It’s a no-no in the indigenous culture.”
RCMP say no charges have been laid at this time.
“Investigations are taking time to complete,” Saskatchewan RCMP wrote in a statement. “North Battleford RCMP are continuing to investigate this incident, including working to identify and locate the suspects.”
Betty Nippy-Albright, NDP critic for First Nations and Métis Relations and Truth and Reconciliation, said she was “absolutely appalled” by the incident and that “racism has no place in our province.”
She said she was “devastated that a six-year-old child witnessed this unprovoked attack. Unfortunately, attacks like this happen all too often in Saskatchewan. I support the FSIN in calling for a swift investigation and appropriate charges.”
“I am also imploring the people of Saskatchewan to write their MLAs and demand immediate action against the disproportionate levels of violence faced by Indigenous people,” said Betty Nippy-Albright.
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