Bomber Report

Get the latest news and features on the Big Blue as they battle in the CFL

View all features

Bomber Report

Winnipeg Free Press > Local > Aboriginal group calls site's ad a hate crime

Local

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Aboriginal group calls site's ad a hate crime

By: Adam Wazny

5/03/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 22

An aboriginal group is contemplating legal action after a post promoting racism appeared on a website Thursday.The posting, titled "Free: Native Extraction Service" was found on the UsedWinnipeg.com website by a woman in Garden Hill First Nation, who was looking for a used television to purchase for one of her children. She contacted the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak advocacy group, which represents First Nation communities in northern Manitoba, and expressed her outrage.

Grand Chief David Harper was equally appalled.

"It's very concerning for our organization that such things like this exist," he said. "This is a hate crime."

The advertisement was taken down Thursday afternoon.

The post suggested a service that would provide a "harmless relocation" of aboriginal youth, who are described as "those pesky little buggers hanging outside your home, in the back alley or on the corner." The ad went on to read: "Well fear no more, with my service I will simply do a harmless relocation. With one phone call I will arrive and net the pest, load them in the containment unit (pickup truck) and then relocate them to their habitat."

According to the post, that habitat includes "the rez" and "Salter (Street)."

"This says if you're a 'rez kid' you're not wanted," Harper said. "It disappoints me to have this kind of statement put on a free advertising website. Those things shouldn't be allowed at all."

The MKO believes the posting is a "criminal matter" and said it will explore legal action against the website.

"We're going to look at our options," said Louis Harper, counsel for MKO. "We're not going to take this lightly. We're trying to bridge the gaps between all communities and this has damaged that relationship we have in Winnipeg."

The post includes a picture taken from the Internet of three aboriginal youth with their arms crossed, wearing their baseball caps backwards. The image is a photo from March Point -- a 2008 documentary that follows the lives of three at-risk teens who get past the usual temptations by focusing on researching two oil refineries' effects on the Swinomish reservation in Washington State.

The three males in the photo, Travis Tom, Nick Clark and Cody Cayou, starred and helped produced the critically acclaimed film.

Tracy Rector, one of the producers, was disgusted the film's images were used in such a despicable manner.

"Aside from being horrified, I really can't begin to tell you how upsetting this is," she said from Seattle. "The work that we do as filmmakers is to break some of these stereotypes. This is really disappointing."

UsedWinnipeg.com is owned by Black Press, a Victoria-based company that owns 47 different online classified sites. Luticia Hill, the general manager of UsedEverything.com, which oversees the Black Press sites, said the company immediately received complaints about the posting and pulled the ad less than 24 hours after it was posted.

"We take this type of thing very seriously and we have rules that we put in to avoid this," she said.

Hill would not say who posted the ad or where the posting was generated from, adding that the company didn't want to jeopardize any possible police investigation.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 5, 2010 A9

22 Commentscomment icon

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

Gerdy's comment about MKO's lack of concern for the situation it is helping to create and maintain seems to have flown under the radar. Kid's coming from [some] reserves - and I can speak from pesonal experience on a few remote ones - are woefully unprepared for life within the larger society. Although exceptions exist, their social, academic and communication skills and their work ethic are totally inadequate. [You know the line? ... they have two chances...slim and... etc.] Who's responsible? What should be done?

And because I'm on a bit of a tangent doesn't lessen the inappropriateness of the original on-line ad. However, two wrongs don't make a right. On the surface, I doubt it's a hate crime, but then I don't know the mind-set of the "perpetrators."

Wow SeniorLady and University Student where have you been? Cptkirk is absolutely correct. The ad was in poor taste. It is NOT a hate crime. The internet is full of stuff like this. It is a comment on our society. This sort of backlash is the old double standard. If a man tells a joke about a woman, he is sent for "sensitivity training". A woman tells a joke about a man, and everyone laughs, including the men. It is about freedom of speech. What is the writer’s message? Is he racist against a group, or against individuals that choose the profession of crime? Are there not gangs in this city that promote their aboriginal heritage (Indian Posse)? Perhaps the writer was promoting the removal of such gangs? In their poor attempt to get a message across about the frustration of gang activity rising in this city, they presented a distasteful ad? I have no idea. I can only speculate. All I know is it does not fit the definition of hate. I do not approve of the content of the ad, but I support the right of the writer to express their opinion.
I would much rather live in a society such as the one cptkirk promotes, than your version.

"We're going to look at our options," said Louis Harper, counsel for MKO. "We're not going to take this lightly. We're trying to bridge the gaps between all communities and this has damaged that relationship we have in Winnipeg."

I don't understand how society today takes one person's stupidity and punishes everyone for it. How can one person's rude post damage a relationship with an entire city? The post was rude and uncalled for. It singles out one race for a city wide problem that doesn't consist of one race. But in the statement given above they are singling out a city for one posters unwelcome comment. Our city does need alot of work but if all the citizens start blaming social groupings (ex: police, nurses, students, youths, etc) for a mistake that one person in that group has made then pretty soon there will be no honest jobs, no honest people, and we will all be running around thinking everyone is a villan because of one person. Please don't burn a bridge with our city and it's people because there are a few people with distastful comments.

MKO seems more perturbed about the ad than the dire situation these youth are in. The ad touches a nerve because many aboriginal youth in Winnipeg are neglected like stray animals. The irony is that many will end up getting into trouble and will be treated like vermin by the police and the correctional system. We have 40 street gangs in Winnipeg recruiting kids just like these. Why don't native groups do something about it?

And finally University Student, something that you should know going to the university, the definition of harass:

1. to disturb persistently; torment, as with troubles or cares; bother continually; pester; persecute.
2. to trouble by repeated attacks, incursions, etc., as in war or hostilities; harry; raid.

It's not right, but making a big deal of this is over-reaction. There is a lot of anti-white propaganda on reserves I have seen with my own eyes, nothing is being done about that. How about the reserve in Quebec kicking out anyone who isn't Mohawk enough? Is that not a violation of Human Rights? What if another town was kicking out the aboriginals? I bet it would have been plastered all over the news for that for sure.

There's a double standard, you can make fun of certain sectors of the population, but you can't on others. Free speech and human rights needs to be fair and equal across the board. That's all I am saying. And if that makes me ignorant in your opinion, maybe you should have a good look in the mirror - all I'm asking for is equality and a level playing field for all. If you want to have free speech you have to take the good and the bad and you can't arbitrary decide what you consider offensive or not.

Senior Lady, go to youtube.com and type in Amazing Racist. You'll be amazed how many hits a poor taste joke can come up with.

University Student, you should not be ashamed of stupid people who are ignorant. I'm not promoting this type of activity, but if we truly want free speech, than stupid things like this come up. Limiting people's speech because you don't like their message isn't free speech at all. If you don't like it, look the other way. I'm not offended when people make fun of my Irish heritage (stereotype of drunks), I don't know why anyone else would let them bother them.

A random poster on the internet is not a hate crime. It's not directed at anyone in particular, it only harasses you if A) you go to the site and watch it; B) you let it get to you. The couple in the Maritimes didn't have a choice whether to look or not when some idiots put up a flaming cross in their front yard. You can just not click on the webpage and not see it (albeit it was taken down by management as soon as it was reported).

Your history example is nonsense. The person just indicates (in poor taste) that he will take troubled aboriginals and bring them back to their reserve or Salter street. There's nothing about history, no more than any other racist jokes contain history.

Watch the videos of Amazing Racist (as bad as they are) on youtube, this guy is 1000 x worse on Mexicans, Asians, African-Americans and Muslims than what this advertisement did on aboriginals.

cptkirk:
I know the definition of hate crime. So all of your typing was for naught.
You say people make fun of white trash, rednecks, mexicans etc. all the time in popular culture, But, none of this "went viral", or was published "worldwide". The ad we are talking about here, was PUBLISHED, "went viral". And posssibly worldwide. Therein lies the crime. A Hate Crime.

cptkirk, free speech is free speech, until you speak up against certain groups. Then the good old race card is pulled out.

Was the ad in poor taste. Yes. Was it a hate crime. Doubt it.

cptkirk - for YOUR information this is a hate crime. As a matter of fact, it is harassment at it's finest! I'm Aboriginal and I take this sort of stuff very seriously. It makes me sick that people discriminate this badly. And honestly, I have been in university for 3 years now, and never once have I seen something as disgusting as this. But by you saying something like that just makes you no better than the person who made that ad. It's not that it's a bad joke, it's going too far. When treaties were signed in 1763, there were agreements laid out that included education, housing, food, etc. But they never received anything in most cases, and many of them died of starvation or disease. And to make jokes about putting them on the "rez" or on "salter" street? That's just going too far. I can't stand people like you who have that mentality that you are right because you are white. People make fun of every race, but most of the time it just stems from stereotypes. The thing that this person managed to do was take real history and poke fun at it. Relocate them? How about we relocate all of the racists back to their own country? I think condemn the person who posted the ad, not the website. I like used winnipeg, it helped me sublet my apartment last year. It got me a wonderful kitten. And it has many uses. But please be careful what you say - you don't have the right to pass judgements until you have all the facts straight.

Senior Lady, for your information here is the textbook definition of a hate crime (from a CBC news article):

"The Criminal Code of Canada says a hate crime is committed to intimidate, harm or terrify not only a person, but an entire group of people to which the victim belongs. The victims are targeted for who they are, not because of anything they have done.

Hate crimes involve intimidation, harassment, physical force or threat of physical force against a person, a family or a property."

Did anyone in specific, or in general become intimidated, harassed, have physical force or a threat of physical force from what I consider a very poor taste joke? I don't think so. I would consider the recent event in the Maritimes where the interracial couple had some idiots put up a burning cross in the front lawn as a hate crime, but posting a poor taste joke is not a hate crime. If it was Jeff Foxworthy should be arrested for making fun of rednecks.

Free speech is free speech. We can just selectively allow what we consider to be the good and remove and condemn people who post the bad. What happened is wrong, intolerant, and generally not what I expect someone in 2010 to post. However, what the poster stated is his own opinion, and he/she's entitled to it under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

View all Comments

The comment period for this story has ended.

Follow

  1. Breaking News Alerts

    Sign up for our new Breaking News Alerts

  2. Editor's Bulletin

    Sign up for daily bulletins

  3. Winnipeg road closures

    Check if your commute is affected

  4. Blogs to Watch

    We pick our favourite local blogs for you to follow

  5. Breaking News Widget

    Create and embed a Winnipeg Free Press breaking news widget on your site or blog

  6. Twitter

    Follow our reporters and news feeds on Twitter

letters

Make text: Larger | Smaller

Our Communities

Poll

Should a grizzly bear that mauled three people in Yellowstone Park be killed?

View Results

Events

July 30, 2010

View all Events

Gavins Chance for Change

Golf Tournament Fundraiser includes 18 holes of golf, cart, smokie or hamburger for lunch and banquet dinner. Registration at 8:30 a.m. Shotgun start at 10 a.m. ...

[ View Full Event information ]