Mother says son, 11, bullied, beaten for being Indigenous

STEINBACH — The mother of an 11-year-old Indigenous boy says he was the victim of a racially motivated beating by two boys from his class at Stonybrook Middle School in Steinbach.

Theo Osborne was assaulted during lunch hour on Feb. 11, said Melissa Johnson, who took him to the ER after he had his hair pulled, suffered a concussion, lost a tooth and received puncture wounds and scratches to his face.

“It wasn’t just a punch,” said Johnson. “This kid was sitting on top of my son and hammer-fisting him right in the mouth and in the eye,” she told the Steinbach Carillon.

She said the boys had been bullying Theo since December 2025 by saying his hair was “disgusting” and he “looked like a girl.” She said Theo would defend himself by asking the boys to leave him alone and to stop being racist.

On Feb. 11, the two boys threatened to pull out his hair if he didn’t cut it.

Johnson said she went to the RCMP to report the assault.

An RCMP spokesperson said the matter is not considered a hate crime based on what was reported and that charges cannot be laid because the boys are under the age of 12, which is out of the scope of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Johnson was told one boy received a five-day suspension while the other was suspended for three days.

“I just don’t think that a light little tap on the hand of a two-day suspension doesn’t really align with what actually happened,” said Bambi Bertholet, spokesperson for Mino Odewin, a local Indigenous group that wants the school division to investigate the assault and implement measures for Theo’s safety.

On Tuesday, Johnson met with the school principal. She said she wasn’t satisfied with the meeting.

She said the boy who assaulted Theo has been removed from Theo’s class, but the boy who started the bullying incident is still in the classroom.

“I want the other boy removed too…” said Johnson.

Bertholet, who was with Johnson at the meeting, said the principal said the boys wouldn’t be expelled.

“I go, OK, what actually constitutes expulsion? Like, how bad does someone have to be assaulted before you’re willing to look at expulsion? And they said, oh, we can’t decide that. That has to be done at a school division level, which I was kind of surprised about.”

Bertholet said Johnson has been dealing with racism against her children in the division for a long time.

“Melissa has gone to the teacher, the principal, the school board many times in the past, and it all kind of blows over.”

After the meeting, Johnson sent an email to Education Minister Tracy Schmidt detailing her family’s experience in regards to racism and the response she got from Hanover School Division superintendent Joe Thiessen regarding the assault.

In an email, Theissen wrote there are Indigenous supports in place in the division, including cultural learning, which can be direct towards Theo.

“But that’s not what I meant when I said that the school needs more Indigenous education. I meant the other students need more Indigenous education, not Theo, because Theo knows a lot about being Indigenous…” she said.

Johnson said she received a response to her email from the minister’s Indigenous Excellence division, which indicated the division had sent her a generic response.

Johnson said she is considering taking legal action.

The division issued a statement to the Carillon saying action was taken immediately to address the situation and that the matter is under review, including its lunch-hour supervision practices.

“We remain committed to ensuring safe and supportive learning environments, and to advancing truth and reconciliation, equity, and safe schools for all.”

Johnson said her son and the rest of the family are growing their hair long at the request of Theo’s grandfather, a residential school survivor, so that when he dies he can take a bit of his family with him.

Theo is a traditional grass dancer, his mom said, and he was excited to perform for the first time publicly in Steinbach during Mino Odewin’s Orange Shirt Day last summer.

“I know his culture means everything to him. From the time he wakes up, he wants to smudge, he sings, he dances every day,” said Johnson.

— Steinbach Carillon