Due to the sensitive and/or legal subject matter of some of the content on globalnews.ca, we reserve the ability to disable comments from time to time.First Nations in the tiny central coast community of Bella Bella rallied outside their RCMP detachment Friday afternoon - calling for the removal of one its officers. As John Hua reports, it centers around offensive social media posts made years ago.
“People felt like they didn’t want to call the RCMP, they’re hesitant to call the RCMP,” Marilyn Slett, Elected Chief of the Heiltsuk First Nation told Global News.The mistrust stems from social media posts discovered on Facebook under the name Adrian Rubenstein.In the small community, it did not take long for people to learn Rubenstein’s true identity, Const. Adrian Robinson of the Bella Bella RCMP.
“Our community was feeling some fear obviously, with having an RCMP with these types of racist attitudes,” Slett added.Posts that have been since taken down show Robinson in costume paired with inappropriate remarks towards Jehovah’s Witnesses and people of colour.
The Heiltsuk Nation claims time has kept the RCMP from launching a code of conduct investigation that would automatically take Robinson off active duty.RCMP said in a statement that because the posts were made before he joined the force they are committed to finding the “right balance between addressing the concerns through a fair process and the importance of individuals/community having trust and confidence in their police officers and the RCMP.
Leaders said this renews calls to collaborate with the RCMP when it comes to hiring, as the fact that this process has to be held is a failure by the RCMP to protect this community from past and current trauma and ongoing harm.Read