Arrest made after assault investigation in Battleford

A 46-year-old Battleford man has been charged in connection with an assault that was caught on surveillance video.

The man was arrested Tuesday evening and charged with one count of assault. He’s to appear in North Battleford Provincial Court on Aug. 22.

The RCMP got a call Sunday just before 7 p.m., that a man had been approached by three men he didn’t know. One of the men assaulted the victim and the trio left before officers arrived.

The victim, Colby Tootoosis from the Poundmaker Cree Nation, suffered minor injuries.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) believe the incident was racially motivated.

Unprovoked

The attack was caught on surveillance video by the property owner Eleanore Sunchild. Sunchild told battlefordsNOW that it’s been a difficult week, particularly for her friend Tootoosis.

“He’s just trying to process what happened. He was an innocent victim,” she said.

In a statement released by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), Sunchild described the incident as a racially motivated attack. She said seeing one of the individuals in the video holding a golf club was especially alarming.

“What if my visibly Indigenous-looking son, with long black hair in a braid, was back there?” she said. “Would they have beat him with a golf club? If one of my neighbours had been standing in my yard, I highly doubt they would have been attacked,” she said.

Sunchild said the bag the accused spoke of in the video was located just beyond her yard, stressing she didn’t know who put it there and doesn’t know where it came from.

“There’s a line back there that becomes town property and there has been stolen stuff placed back there before,” she said. “Last summer there was some bikes found back there, not on my property but on the town’s property and people cross through that area all the time. Lots of quads go through there towards the river.”

Sunchild, who is a lawyer, added she is looking at filing a civil suit.

“They came onto my property and I know how civil suits work, so it’s definitely something we’re looking into,” she said.

Mayor says violence not welcome

Mayor Ames Leslie issued a statement Tuesday evening through his office with the Town of Battleford, stating the town does not condone violence and that the actions of the accused in the video appear to violate the goal of the community to be welcoming and inclusive. Speaking with battlefordsNOW, he said it’s important that residents allow the investigation to finish and for the justice system to take corrective action, for the safety of everyone in the community.

“Let the RCMP do their job and we can help keep them accountable,” he said. “At the same time, we don’t need people taking things into their own hands to respond.”

The City also issued a statement on Wednesday, in reaction to multiple assaults in the region, condemning violence and racism and encouraging residents to reach out to the RCMP.

The RCMP said its investigation was continuing. Anyone with information about the incident can contact Battleford RCMP at 306-446-1720 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.