Neil stonechild Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Neil stonechild - Essay Example Canada formed a Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) to attend to the concerns of the Aborigines of Canada such as previous government courses of action, to be able to present policy proposals. A final report was issued in 1996 by the commission with a 20-year period for change (Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia). This 20-year period ends by the year 2016. It has been 13 years after the RCAP issued its report and recommendations to the government. What has happened in the span of 13 years? Has anything changed between how the Aborigines, non-Aborigines, and the government relate to one other? Have you ever heard of Cameron Mulrunji Doomadgee, Corrine McKeown, Doreen LeClair, Helen Betty Osborne, Eva Taysup, Shelley Napope, Calinda Waterhen or Neil Stonechild? Most likely, you have never heard of them, but they do have one thing in common. They are Aborigines in Canada who are now all dead. Are they dead because of police brutality, racial discrimination, or because the public has turned a blind eye on what is really happening to the First Nation in Canada? Neil Stonechild is a 17-year old Aborigine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Four days after being picked up by the police for causing a disturbance, his body was found frozen in a field in the northwest area of the city. Autopsy reports showed hypothermia as the cause of death and investigations by the police service disproved foul play in his death. But there were qualms, especially by the family, about the circumstances surrounding the death of Stonechild especially since there were complaints about members of the police team moving Aborigines to remote places in and outside of the city of Saskatoon. Apparently, the principal investigator assigned to the case set aside important data pointed out to him regarding Neil Stonechild’s disappearance and demise. Further investigations were made and a decision was concluded in 2004, fourteen years after the primary incident. Several factors were pinpointed as