Justice Walk for Colton Crowshoe held in Brocket (updated)

Colton Crowshoe
from "Bring Colton Crowshoe Home" Facebook page

Chris Davis (updated August 6, 2014)

A "Justice Walk" was held in the town of Brocket on the Piikani Nation reserve on Saturday morning, August 2.  The walk began at the east end of town and finished at the graveyard on the west end of town.  There the approximately 40 people in attendance formed a circle and joined hands.  A minute of silence was observed, a prayer was said, and balloons were released to the sky.

Justice Walk for Colton
T. Lucas/C. Davis photos/video

Colton is the teen found dead in Calgary on July 24, 20 days after he was first reported missing by his family. Colton was born Piikani and raised in Calgary. His body was found in a water retention pond close to his home. Calgary Police Service (CPS) is conducting a homicide investigation into his death, which came only weeks after his graduation from Jack James High School in Calgary.

Family and friends of Colton have expressed considerable concern over the way the case was handled by CPS. A statement released to the media and posted on the on the Bring Colton Crowshoe Home Facebook page on July 26 says, in part:

 "Calgary police officers, who responded to our call for help, dismissed our pleas and downplayed our version of events, and at their discretion; ruled out any foul play in my nephew’s disappearance. Seemingly, police officers we dealt with at the time were more interested in justifying why they couldn’t do more."

"Furthermore, to add insult to injury the police concluded that my nephew is eighteen now, and he may not want to be found. The only solution offered by the police was an un-emphatic brief assurance that my nephew’s name would be entered into a national missing person’s database and if he happens to run into the police, and they run his name looking for warrants; they’ll see that he has been reported as a missing person. When we requested media attention, we were further told by police, “the request had to have Colton’s expressed permission.” As a result, the family decided to request directly to CTV Calgary and Global, and were told by the media contacts there, 'the request had to come from police'."

"The lack of empathy and action by police and mainstream media exemplifies and vindicates the preamble, “…that not only are First Nations overrepresented and over-policed in the criminal justice system as accused persons, but under-policed as victims as well. Police often see First Nations as less worthy victims and as a result, requests for assistance are often ignored and downplayed as in this case with my nephew. Colton, like many other First Nations across Canada, is proof of how the system that is suppose to help us, ultimately fails us, because of racist views and negative stereotypes."

 - from www.facebook.com/BringColtonCrowshoeHome

Note, the Pincher Creek Voice also follows the policy that missing persons bulletins must come from the police, for legal and other reasons (including experience with previous missing persons cases where we didn't follow that policy), and we therefore did not report Colton as a missing person on our website until the official CPS statement to that effect was issued on July 22.

"That's what they said to me, they said that he's 18, maybe he doesn't want to be found," said Danielle Crowshoe, Colton's aunt,  in an interview a day before the event.

I asked Danielle if, in her opinion, CPS was too slow in releasing a missing person bulletin regarding Colton. "Yes, they were," she said. "Colton is not the type of kid to just walk away and disappear. He wasn't a party type of person. He never went partying for days on end, not letting anyone know where he was. He was not that kind of a person."

"Colton was not the type of person to leave, not even for the night, without letting anyone know. He just graduated this past June from Jack James School in Calgary, and he was in the process of getting his paperwork done to attend SAIT in September. He was still living with his father." According to Danielle he was planning to pursue welding as a career.

I asked her what type of person he was, and what kind of life he lived. "He was very close to his father. He was raised by my brother Jimmy. My brother Jimmy was a single parent. Jimmy raised Colton, and his other two siblings, his older brother (Wyatt), and his older sister (Jasmine). He was the youngest of the three."

 (Much younger) Jasmine, Wyatt, and Colton Crowshoe with Santa
from Bring Colton Crowshoe Home Facebook page

"We actually all left the reserve, years ago. Myself, my, siblings, and my mother. Colton was about four, five years old when we left the reserve and all went to Calgary. Our children were raised there. Jimmy (their father and Danielle's brother) raised them. He raised them from the time they were that age," she said, referring to the above photo of the three children with Santa. "He raised them on his own as a single father, in the City of Calgary."

"Colton was a really good kid, nobody would ever have a problem with him. He was funny, he was loving, he was kind, and he loved kids." Danielle said that Colton often acted as a mentor for younger kids, and talked to them about the importance of school and education.

"He wasn't a partier, he wasn't a drinker, and as far as I know he didn't take drugs. He was just an all around good kid. He loved sports, and played hockey until he was 14 or 15. I think the last hockey team he played for up there was the Mustangs. (Southeast Calgary) He loved hockey, and basketball."

"He loved being with family."

"At the candlelight vigil last night (July 31), his sister Jasmine couldn't even bring herself to get out of the vehicle and come in."

I asked Danielle what the purpose of the Justice Walk was. "Because the family is seeking justice in his murder. In the beginning, because it was so unlike Colton to just vanish, and nobody hearing from him, him not calling, we already knew that it wasn't right. It wasn't right for him to not call someone, especially his dad. He always called his father."

"He always checked in with his dad."

"It was just strange. A week went by, and It was just like he had just vanished. Nobody knew where he was, and everybody was looking.

"He was walking home from a friends house, and that was the last time anyone saw him. We were calling the Calgary City Police, trying to get help, trying to get somebody, somewhere to help us to try to find him. We reported him as a missing person, but that is all they said they could do, and because there was no sign of foul play, they couldn't even do an investigation.

"We took it upon ourselves to backtrack his steps. We found his t-shirt that he was wearing that night. We backtracked everywhere that he would have walked or went. When we were doing our searches, we weren't even far from that pond. We weren't far from that pond at all.

"Where he was found in that pond, my brother's house is just like right there. He was not even three blocks from home. It was probably a five minute walk. "

"The person that found him walks his dog by there every day at the same time. And he said the day before he had walked his dog through there, and said he wasn't there."

"You know what I told my siblings and my family, I don't care, you know we just we have to keep it out there, we have to- we can't let this guy, we can't let people forget, we can't let them forget his face, no put it on your Facebook every day if you have to, put him on your Facebook, keep it going, keep it out there because somebody will break, or something will happen..."

Note: At this point in our interview Danielle relayed some information that we can't publish at this time.

"I think he was being held, against his will, in that area," Danielle speculated. "And when they did that door-to door, they panicked and they put him in that pond, because he was not in that pond the day before."

"I think they panicked when the police started going door-to-door, whoever it is, whoever did that."

"I want his killer to be caught. I want this person, or persons, to be caught, and I want justice for him."

"We are not going to give up. We are never going to give up. That's my promise to him. Not until they find justice for him."

"Our children are raised with a lot of respect. They are raised with values, they are raised with our traditional way of life. We still do the ceremonies, and the sundances, and we always encourage our children to be a part of that. To be a part of the community in a positive way, through powwows, and stuff like that."

"When we were young, that's how we were taught. We were taught the traditional way of life, and we try to carry that on with our children, and our grandchildren."

I asked Danielle if she thought the case would have been handled differently if Colton was white. "Yes, I do. I think they probably would have done an amber alert or something right away, but I think it would have been handled very differently."

On July 29 the Calgary Police Service released the following statement:

Over the past few days, several allegations have been made against the Calgary Police Service with regard to the disappearance and investigation of Colton Crowshoe.  Our deepest condolences go out to the entire Crowshoe family, but we will not address or comment on these allegations through the media or in a public forum. Our focus remains on the homicide investigation and in bringing the person(s) responsible for Colton's death to justice.  Should any member of the public have a concern or complaint relating to the actions of any member of the Calgary Police Service, a formal process exists to do so, and those matters will be investigated under the provisions outlined in the Alberta Police Act. A spokesperson will not be available to answer questions or reiterate this statement. - Calgary Police Service

Related story:

Piikani/Calgary teen Colton Crowshoe found deceased, victim of homicide