Innu Nation grand chief calls for Indigenous police force after violent N.L. arrest

SHESHATSHIU – The grand chief of the Innu Nation says the violent arrest of an Indigenous man in Labrador caught on camera highlights the need for a First Nation-led police force in the region. 

Jodie Ashini said a video posted on social media on Wednesday of three RCMP officers arresting the man in the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation, a community of 1,300 about 30 kilometres north of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, was difficult to watch. It appears to show one officer repeatedly punching the man in the head before triggering a stun gun several times.

She said the video shows officers using excessive force. 

“He had three people on him,” Ashini said in an interview Thursday. “He was getting punched repeatedly.” 

The video, which has been shared online thousands of times, appears to show three RCMP officers in the process of arresting a man inside a home. When the man appears to pull his hand back from police, one of the officers punches him in the face. 

The video also appears to show the man being thrown against a wall, punched again, taken to the ground, and punched several more times before an officer appears to hit him multiple times with a stun gun.

“It was too much,” Ashini said. “It was just beyond anything that any RCMP member should ever do to somebody.”

At one point, an officer appears to push the woman filming, who says the man being arrested is her boyfriend. The officer says the arrested man had spit in an officer’s face. A barking dog and people screaming can be heard throughout the incident and at least one child can be seen on the fringes of the video. 

An RCMP spokesperson declined to offer more information about the Sheshatshiu incident on Thursday, saying it had been referred to the Serious Incident Response Team, the province’s civilian-led oversight agency for police. 

The Mounties said they met with Ashini, Sheshatshiu Chief Eugene Hart and other community leaders Wednesday.

“We will continue to engage directly with the community in these important conversations,” said the statement. 

Ashini said RCMP officials told her that the officer seen throwing punches in the video has temporarily been reassigned to Happy Valley-Goose Bay. She said that’s not enough disciplinary action and the officer should have been suspended. 

“He’s still going to have interactions in Goose Bay with other people. And it’s just a scary thought of him with any other Indigenous person,” she said. 

Ashini said the incident illustrates why the Innu people need their own police force.

The issue has been part of the Innu Nation’s land claim and self-governance negotiations with the federal and provincial governments that have been going on for more than 40 years, she added.

As it stands, Ashini said the Innu can’t access federal funding for its own police force. 

“We grew up in the same traumatic way (and) we understand each other,” said Ashini. “There are ways that we can talk to our own people, to bring people down, rather than using force, using intimidation, using these techniques that the RCMP is known for.” 

As of 2024, there were 36 First Nation and Inuit-led police services serving 157 communities across the country, according to Public Safety Canada.

The Innu Nation is not the only Indigenous group seeking its own police service. In January, the chief of New Brunswick’s Neqotkuk First Nation called for the establishment of its own force after RCMP shot and killed community member Paul Bronson during a domestic call. He was the fourth Indigenous person killed by police in New Brunswick since 2020. 

That same month, an RCMP officer shot and killed a man from Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia along a highway north of Halifax. The two deaths prompted First Nation chiefs across Atlantic Canada to call for an urgent meeting with the federal government. 

In July, the Serious Incident Response Team overseeing Nova Scotia and New Brunswick added an Indigenous investigator after years of advocacy from First Nations. Earlier this year, New Brunswick’s Indigenous Affairs Minister Keith Chiasson said early talks on an Indigenous-led public inquiry into systemic racism were underway. 

Ashini said she’s been in contact with the family of the Labrador man arrested in this week’s incident. She said he was treated in hospital for several injuries and his family is also dealing with social media backlash.

“His little boys, will, I don’t think ever trust a person in uniform again,” she said. “That’s a sad reality. The RCMP have lost trust (from) a lot of people. A lot of children have seen this on social media … I don’t think that (trust) will be built back very soon.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2026.

— By Devin Stevens in Halifax.