A video circulating of a security guard at a Saskatoon Freshco attempting to aggressively arrest an Indigenous woman, has the Saskatoon Tribal Council looking for answers.
This after an over nine minute video showing a male private security guard wrestling to detain a woman on the ground, then pursuing her and attempting to restrain her in a vehicle was posted to Facebook. Saskatoon Police confirmed the woman was charged with theft under $5,000 and assault. Tribal Chief Mark Arcand is calling on the manager or owner of the Freshco on 33rd to reach out to him. “If the young First Nations lady did something wrong inside of his store and took something without paying, because she’s been charged with theft under $5,000, I will personally go to that store and pay that bill to recover his losses. I’m asking him to please drop those charges against the young lady, immediately.”
Arcand is also hoping the unidentified woman will reach out to him as he has lined up a high profile lawyer Brian Pfefferle for her. He called on the crown to drop charges against her and work on mediation.
Chief Arcand says he would support the decision, if the security guard were to be terminated from his position. “He went overboard, he went extremely overboard and harmed this First Nations lady, and there has to be consequences for him as an individual.” Arcand is asking the crown to consider that, and he would support any charges against the security guard.
Arcand says in 2021 systemic racism is alive in the city of Saskatoon, and violence against Indigenous women needs to stop immediately. He thinks the security guard took the incident to an extreme level, when he could have handled things a lot different for the safety of both parties. “What did she steal? What was the purpose leading up to that dramatic experience? Was she racially profiled when she entered the store? Was the security guard following her around? Nobody knows those questions but her.” Arcand says he believes systemic racism should be apart of any investigation.
