The Saskatoon Freezing Deaths in Canada
The temperature in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, dropped to -18 degrees Fahrenheit on November 29, 1990. That same day, construction workers recovered the frozen body of 17-year-old Neil Stonechild in a field outside of town. Stonechild was dressed in trousers and a lightweight jacket. He was missing one shoe.
Neil Stonechild, a member of the Saulteaux Nation, was in the backseat of a police cruiser the last time anyone saw him. According to The Conversation, one of Neil’s pals recalls hearing the adolescent say, “Help me, they’re about to kill me.”
How did Neil Stonechild die in the field? The autopsy revealed that the cause of death was hypothermia. According to a police officer, “the youth went out, got drunk, went for a walk, and died of hypothermia.”
In three days, police concluded their investigation into Neil Stonechild’s death. However, the practice of bringing Native Americans on starlight tours persisted. In reality, an inquiry revealed that police targeted Indigenous Americans purposefully in what became known as the Saskatoon freezing deaths.
On January 28, 2000, police picked up Darrell Night, a Cree man, in Saskatoon. Night expected the police to take him to the drunk tank. Instead, they took him on a starlight tour and drove three miles outside the city limits.
According to The Washington Post, one of the officers yelled at Night, “Get the f**k out of here, you f**kin Indian.”
“I’ll freeze out here,” Night shouted back. “What’s wrong with you guys?”
“That’s your f**kin problem.”
Then police left Night on a riverbank in sub-zero temperatures. He was wearing a jean jacket over a t-shirt.
That night, Darrell Night might have frozen. He could have been another victim of Saskatoon’s cold temperatures. But Night started heading toward the town. Night miraculously reached a power station before frostbite set in, where a guard assisted him. He had traveled two kilometres in the chilly night.
In the same month, Lloyd Dustyhorn’s frozen body was discovered on the outskirts of Saskatoon. A day before to the discovery of Dustyhorn’s body, he had been arrested for public intoxication.
The day after Darrell Night survived the freezing temperature, the body of Rodney Naistus appeared close to where police had left Night. And just days later, the body of a third Indigenous man, Lawrence Kim Wegner, was discovered near the same location.
Night would have been the fifth frozen body found in the same stretch of prairie outside Saskatoon. And when he spoke out against the police, Night received death threats.
Investigating The Saskatoon Freeze-Related Deaths
Although the Saskatoon freezing deaths of early 2000 brought the issue to the attention of the general public for the first time, locals had long been aware of the practice, which police euphemistically referred to as “starlight tours.”
“That there is a popular term [for this practice] is testimony to the fact that it happened more than once,” writes scholar Sherene Razack. “The practice of drop-offs is a lethal one when the temperature is minus twenty-eight degrees Celsius and if the long walk back to town is undertaken without proper clothing and shoes.”
The cold deaths in Saskatoon illustrate the struggle between the police enforcement and the Indigenous people. Indigenous people make up 5% of the entire population in Saskatchewan, but over 50% of the prison population.
When Darrell Night survived his tour of the stars, the province launched an investigation.
The police officers who abandoned Night insist they did not break any laws. The authorities asserted that Night requested to be dropped off near the outskirts of the city. According to their testimony, Night said, “Look boys, drop me off anywhere. Just don’t take me in and charge me.”
During their trial, the cops said that they dropped Night off in a spot where he would have to walk back to town.
Dan Hatchen and Ken Munson were convicted of unlawful confinement. They spent eight months behind bars.
The End Of The Saskatoon Police’s ‘Starlight Tours’
“If it wasn’t for Darrell Night, we would still be muddling around,” Sakej Henderson, who directs the Native Law Centre, told The Washington Post.
“We knew the people died suspiciously, but we could never get enough connecting evidence to say why they died. But with Darrell Night, all of a sudden the pattern was there. We could see it clear. Clear enough the province has said we need an inquiry.”
Saskatoon Police Chief Russell Sabo admits that the department was responsible for the freezing deaths in Saskatoon.
The starlight tours, he said, “happened more than once, and we fully admit that and, in fact, on behalf of the police department, I want to apologize. It’s quite conceivable there were other times. I think it’s important we take ownership when we do something wrong and correct the behavior.”
No officer involved in the Saskatoon freezing deaths was ever charged for the crime.
Credits: Wikipedia