April Woodhouse, 50, was found lying outside on the steps of a house in Pinaymootang First Nation—about 240 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg—not far from where she lived.
In the hospital, she said they were told April had signs of internal bleeding. When Stagg went into the hospital room, she noticed something else.
“I was holding her hand, and I noticed her hands were badly beaten,” she said, adding there were marks on her sister’s body.
When Stagg called RCMP, she was told her sister’s death was not being considered a homicide.
When CTV News first reached out to Manitoba RCMP on Tuesday, a spokesperson said April’s death was a “medical incident.”
However, one day later, RCMP responded to CTV News again. This time the police said an investigation is underway.
Too often cops ignore what happens to First Nations people and blow them off.
This is what happened here.
Good thing the CBC questioned the cops, because otherwise nothing would have been done.
I’m think that, too.
But the accusation that she was beaten and left for dead really shouldn’t be published if it was just on a hunch from a family member.
It does nothing productive, and end up creating further divisions between our First Nations and the RCMP or local police.
Of course, if it ends up that she was in fact beaten and left for dead, then it should be published that police were pressured to act in order to find the truth.
If the coroner ends up concluding that it was merely bad luck on her part, will the family accept that?
You argue a lot for the benefit of the cops here. You a member of force or what?
No, it’s a matter of principle.
If the media is misrepresenting the facts of the case, it hurts First Nation people.
Family always has other explanations for why their loved one died under tragic circumstances. It’s probably a coping mechanism. But since when do we take opinion over fact?
Do you think the cops would have done the same thing if it had been a white woman who was found dead on a neighbour’s doorstep?
I’m not denying or defending the steps police took in this case. I hate bad cops as much as the next person.
There’s an obvious history of First Nation and other indigenous groups being ignored by police.
If it turns out that autopsy concludes that this death was simply an accident, the way it’s been reported will only serve to divide the community and their law enforcement.