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Writer's pictureJohn Hawke
Nov 2018 min read

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Mens Inquiry? 



July 3 2024 - Balm Beach Bar and Grill. Johnny Hawke taking Selfies. In the background. Right Tiny Township Mayor Dave Evans, Bald Man, Kelly Helowka. Consuming Alcohol in Council Attire. Mayor departed and Helowka stayed consuming Alcohol alone. He called me over and asked why I was taking photos of him and then threatened me.

By Johnny Hawke:


This past summer a Tiny Township Councillor initiated an interaction with me at a Bar and Grill and uttered a death threat. Kelly Peter Helowka informed me he was a retired RCMP and can make me disappear. I was angered and let staff know yet asked me to leave and permitted him to stay. I filed a complaint with the OPP and urged the officer to obtain surveillance video to show Helowka was the instigator. I tried to follow up with the officer for a month but never returned my calls or was available. The officer eventually called me to say a charge wasn’t laid because lack of evidence. The Grill’s Owner informed me that OPP never came to ask for video. The OPP failed me in its investigation.   


Despite this being a minor occurrence compared to what other Indigenous People report, my experience shows how a Representative of a Government, the Fraternity of Police and the Business Community interconnect and exemplify Canada’s Institutional racism and the disadvantage to justice that Indigenous Peoples experience daily. Do we need to demand an external inquiry focussing on Police Misconduct relating to all Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples where we are clearly being targeted?  


At the end of this summer over a two-week period (August 29 – September 9, 2024), police killed six Indigenous people. 


  • Jack Charles Piche, 31 from Clearwater River Dene Nation in Saskatchewan was hit by an RCMP vehicle while walking on the 909 grid road off Highway 155 near Buffalo Narrows.


  • Tammy Bateman, Anishinabe of Roseau River was struck and killed by a police cruiser in a Winnipeg Park


  • Steven “Iggy” Dedam, Mi’kmaw was shot and killed by RCMP officers in Elsipogtog First Nation after police responded to a call for a wellness check.


  • Hoss Lightning Saddleback 15 -year-old boy from Samson Cree Nation was shot and killed by RCMP in Wetaskiwin Alta when he called them for help. 


  • Danny Knife, 31 from Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation was shot by Shellbrook RCMP.  In response to a call involving an assault, the police found the man they believed was responsible, and an altercation ensued. Thus far, there is no indication that he was armed, but he, too, was shot and killed by officers. 


  • Jason West 57, an Indigenous Man shot and killed by Windsor Police.  



There are similarities to previous deaths involving Police, including Chantel Moore, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation who was shot and killed by New Brunswick Police during a wellness check on June 4, 2020. The shooting of Josephine Pelletier, Ojibway 33 of Muskowekwan First Nation by Calgary Police and 16-year-old Eisha Hudson shot and killed by Winnipeg Police 2020. 


It is clear our Peoples are paying with their lives as a result of Government policy However before we start putting our energy into demanding yet another inquiry let’s look at what already exists where billions of dollars have already funded such studies and initiatives where our struggle has become an industry.


Commissions, Inquiries and Calls to Action  

Since the more radical political organizing that emerged in the late 60’s almost every decade since has seen an outburst of grassroots mobilization against existing colonization. This energy that periodically explodes across so called Canada however always ends up becoming pacified and dwindles just as fast as it spreads as a result of Government coopting our People with Program Funding and Public Inquiries. 


The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples              

Cost: 60$ Million 

The Kanehsatake Resistance or “Oka Crisis”, was a leading factor to the creation of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in 1991. RCAP’s aim was to investigate the relationship between Indigenous peoples, the Government of Canada, and Canadian society as a whole. It proposed specific solutions, rooted in domestic and international experience, to the problems which have plagued those relationships and which confront Indigenous peoples today. The 1996, 4000 page Final Report gave 440 Comprehensive recommendations.


The report's recommendations were largely ignored, and the federal government's response was considered inadequate. The federal government didn't call a First Ministers' Conference as recommended, its response emphasized non-constitutional approaches. The Provincial governments gave little response, viewing the report as a federal initiative. The federal government placed a two-percent funding cap on Indigenous services for almost two decades. RCAP's recommendations were considered too radical and difficult to implement.


The Ipperwash Inquiry                                                                

Cost $13.3 Million Dollars                              

The Ipperwash Inquiry was a two-year public judicial inquiry funded by the Government of Ontario, led by Sidney B. Linden, and established under the Ontario Public Inquiries Act.

The Inquiry investigated the 1995 killing of unarmed Indigenous land defender Dudley George by OPP.


The Final Report released in 2007 found that racism against Indigenous peoples was “not restricted to a few ‘bad apples’ within the OPP but was more widespread.” The inquiry "found that the OPP, the provincial government led by Premier Mike Harris, and the federal government all bore responsibility for the events that led to George's death. 


The report included 100 recommended changes to policing, negotiation processes, and Indigenous land rights. Specifically in regards to policing, the Inquiry made a recommendation of adopting a democratic policing model. A democratic policing model is aimed at increasing accountable, transparent policing, which is respectful of human rights and cultural differences, with government oversight.


Since the report was released there have been a handful of Indigenous direct actions involving historic land disputes in so called Ontario where this inquiry's recommendations have not received much attention. As a result, the Ontario government, by not addressing the adoption of a democratic policing model, continues to support police independence.


Truth and Reconciliation Commission 

Cost $60 Million

Organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to document the history and lasting impacts of the Canadian Indian residential school system. In June 2015, the TRC released an executive summary of its findings along with 94 "Calls to Action" regarding reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. 


Calls to Action relating to Justice state; Equity for Indigenous People in the Legal System and for the Federal Government to establish a written policy that reaffirms the independence of the RCMP relating to matters where the Government is a potential party to litigation.  


Although the federal government has reaffirmed the independence of the RCMP it has not established a written policy. In two statements made in 2018 a spokesperson for the Department of Justice as well as a statement by the Public Safety Minister declared the Department of Justice and the RCMP continue to collaborate with respect to the rule of law of police independence and where ministerial direction cannot infringe on the independence of the RCMP in the exercise of police powers in criminal investigations.  


Despite the Governments acknowledgement of “Police Independence” and the rule of law there is evidently contradictory behaviour when it comes to the Government adhering to ethics and such policies as exemplified in the SNC-Lavalin Scandal that made news in 2019. 

Canada only tolerates the "good little Indian" as evident with Justin Trudeau, Jody Wilson Raybould and the SNC-Lavalin Scandal

The SNC-Lavalin affair, a political scandal involving attempted political interference with the justice system by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the Prime Minister's Office. Canada's Ethics Commissioner found that Trudeau improperly influenced Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in an ongoing criminal case against SNC-Lavalin by offering a deferred prosecution agreement. Wilson-Raybould said there was a breach of prosecutorial independence when members of the government pressured her to offer SNC-Lavalin a DPA instead of continuing with a criminal prosecution.


April 2, 2019 Wilson-Raybould the first Indigenous Person to hold office of Attorney General and Minister of Justice was kicked out of the Liberal Caucus by Justin Trudeau. This is how the Prime Minister behaves towards a well established Indigenous Woman in the era of Truth and Reconciliation and ending violence towards Indigenous Women.  


The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report concluded that Canada is guilty of committing cultural genocide against Indigenous people.





National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls          Cost 53.8 Million 

In response to the grassroots collectives of Indigenous Women and Families along with the Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, this Public Inquiry from 2016 to 2019 studied the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis. The study included reviews of law enforcement documents as well as community hearings and testimonies. The final report of the inquiry concluded that the crisis constituted an ongoing "race, identity and gender-based genocide.” The Final Report includes 231 individual Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians.


Indigenous women and human rights experts vigorously lobbied to include a review of sexualized violence in policing but a review of police as perpetrators was specifically excluded from the Terms of Reference. Indigenous women have been left with no where to turn when the police are the perps. This has led to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Its Causes and Consequences to call on Canada to:


Support an external review, conjointly with civil society and Indigenous communities, of the disproportionate levels of racism abuse and violence towards Indigenous women and girls by police and correctional officers with a view to implement preventative measures and enforcing institutional accountability on a concept of zero tolerance for excessive use of force and sexual harassment or assault.


In 2015 RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson publicly confirmed assertions by Canada's Minister of Aboriginal Affairs that 70 per cent of Indigenous women are being murdered by Indigenous men. Canada’s Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Bernard Valcourt divulged unreleased information about ethnicity collected by the RCMP claiming "The consolidated data from the nearly 300 contributing police agencies has confirmed that 70 per cent of the offenders were of aboriginal origin.”


The Forensic Document Review Project within the 2019 Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls found, The "often-cited statistic that Indigenous men are responsible for 70% of murders of Indigenous women and girls is not factually based. 


Corruption of Police Agencies

In 2014, an internal RCMP study found hundreds of cases of corruption amongst its members in an 11 year period, including perjury, falsifying evidence, police corruption and involvement with organized crime. The blue fraternity of police who protect each other make it almost impossible to hold racist and violent officers accountable. As evident with Prime Minister Trudeau’s attempt to get Jody Wilson-Raybould to breach prosecutorial independence in the criminal case against SNC-Lavalin we can not rely on Government and its agencies to investigate and police themselves. 


The RCMP has a history dating back to 1873 and has been involved in several high-profile controversies. The McDonald Commission, was to investigate the RCMP after a number of illegal activities by the RCMP Security Service came to light in the 1970s. The final report was issued in 1981. Allegations made against the RCMP, included its theft of the membership list of the Parti Québécois, several break-ins; illegal opening of mail; burning a barn in Quebec where the Black Panther Party and Front de libération du Québec, were rumoured to be planning a rendezvous; theft of dynamite in a smear campaign, forging documents; and conducting illegal electronic surveillance.


RCMP Smear Campaign and Disinformation on Land Defenders at Gustufson Lake 1995




Whose Police? RCMP unit acts as a private security force, critics say




Known Sex Crimes by RCMP Officers


  • 2005 former RCMP officer Gary Stevens plead guilty to sexual assault of an underage Indigenous girl. The allegations were first made in April 2004 when Stevens was a member of the RCMP's Kitmat BC, detachment


  •  2005 two RCMP officers were suspended during an investigation into allegations they were buying sex from young prostitutes in Prince George BC. Lee Lakeman a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres stated that this was " just the tip of the iceberg" "referring to Judge David Ramsey.” May 2004, David Ramsey a BC Provincial Court Judge pleaded guilty to buying sex from and assaulting 4 Indigenous girls aged 12, 14, 15 and 16. These attacks happened in 1992 and 2001. Ramsey was not removed until 2002




  • Merlo Davidson Class Action:                                                                                                      The Merlo Davidson class action settlement, concerns gender and sexual orientation-based harassment and discrimination of female RCMP members and public service employees in the workplace from 1974 to 2017. In 2017, the Federal Court approved a settlement that established a confidential and independent Claims Process and compensation scheme overseen by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice, the Hon. Michel Bastarache, C.C.,Q.C. as Independent Assessor. A total of 3,086 claims were filed between August 2017 and May 2018. The Assessor determined that 2,304 claimants were entitled to compensation under the settlement agreement, for a total of $125.4 million in compensation payments.


  • Caroline O'Farrell settlement:                                                                                                         In 2017, Ms. O'Farrell settled with the RCMP after suffering abuse, harassment, assault, and sexual assault while a member of the Musical Ride. The details of the settlement are confidential, but Ms. O'Farrell said it was a significant victory


Known Sex Crimes by Quebec Police Officers









Known Sex Crimes by OPP Officers










Could Police be involved in Sex Trafficking Rings?


Anishinabe Kwe, Ruth Machimity spent five years working in the sex trade on the streets of Kenora and brought her into contact with some of Kenora’s most powerful people



Anishinabe Teen, Delaine Copenance 16 Found Dead in Kenora ON outside OPP Detachment



Known Sex Crimes by Members of Canadian Armed Forces 


  • Lieutenant-Commander Robert Waller


    In December 2021, military police charged Waller with five counts of sexual assault under the Criminal Code. The case involves at least four victims, and two of the alleged incidents occurred while Waller was in Virginia as a piper for the Royal Canadian Air Force. 


  • Russell Williams


    A colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Williams was charged with sexual assault, breaking and entering, forcible confinement, and the murder of Corporal Marie-France Comeau. Williams was sentenced to two life terms in prison with no parole for 25 years. 


  • Heyder and Beattie Class Actions


    In 2016 and 2017, seven former CAF members filed class action lawsuits against the Government of Canada alleging sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination. In 2019, the Federal Court certified the lawsuits and approved a settlement agreement



  • Sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, 2022                                                           Stats Canada reports in 2022, approximately 1,960 Regular Force members, or 3.5%, reported that they were sexually assaulted in the military workplace or outside of the workplace in an incident that involved Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) or other military members in the 12 months preceding the Survey on Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces (SSMCAF). This rate of sexual assault—which includes sexual attacks, unwanted sexual touching, and sexual activity where the victim was unable to consent—represents a significant increase from rates reported in 2018 (1.6%) and 2016 (1.7%) when previous iterations of the survey were conducted.


The Experiences of Jack Cram and Renate Andres-Auger


One of the first 'official' allegations of such a pedophile ring surfaced in 1994 when Renate Auger, a Cree lawyer living in Vancouver, filed a writ in the BC Supreme Court charging judges, lawyers & officials of the BC Law Society with aiding & protecting pedophiles, including a teacher, doctor, other lawyers & judges. 


Auger named the prestigious Vancouver Club (a private businessmen's club) as a major site for this activity. Auger had also challenged the BC courts regarding errors & irregularities in the 1991 Delgamuukw land. title case, specifically that judge McEachern, several lawyers & members of the crown council all had associations with the same law firm and had conspired to fix the outcome of the case. 





All of Auger's allegations were dismissed and she was subsequently disbarred from practicing law, the pretext being that her accounts were not in .order. Auger retained the services of lawyer Jack Cram, who was subsequently assaulted & arrested by sheriffs in court while defending her, in April 1994. During one exchange with judge Howard Callaghan, Cram, referring to a chief justice that had protected an accused charged with sex crimes against children, stated: 


"They should put him in jail right now. The chief justice should be in jail. Aiding & abetting an alleged pedophile." "I don't want to hear that," Callaghan shot back, unable to restrain himself any longer. “It's preposterous."


"Let's try this one in front of a jury and see what they think," replied Cram... "You may not mind the chief justice aiding and abetting pedophiles. I can only think of one reason that may be." ("Is Jack Cram Crazy?" by Marc Edge, Georgia Straight, May 27, 1994)


Bill Lightbown, a Kutenai elder present in court during the sheriff's assault & arrest of Cram, stated to the sheriffs: "You should be ashamed of yourselves because you know as well as anyone else in there that what happened there was a disgrace..." (Ts'Peten Defense Committee press release, March 17, 1997). 


Shortly after, Cram was again arrested while returning from a radio show interview about the case. Although police claim he was arrested without incident, Cram has stated he was assaulted, forced into an unmarked van, and drugged. He was placed in a psychiatric ward at Vancouver General Hospital and was released after 1 week, only to find himself disbarred as well (this also occurred to lawyer Bruce Clark during a court appearance following the 1995

standoff at Gustafsen Lake/Ts'Peten). 


While under arrest, Cram's office was taken over by members of the Law Society, who also took evidence implicating two judges, according to Cram. 


Cram himself had first become well-known' in 1986 after -winning damages for a client 'who alleged that WAC Bennet-a former Be premier-- had forced him to sell property after having him thrown into a psychiatric ward. This case established Cram's reputation and was the peak in a highly successful 25-year career, with most of his cases involving law-suits against the government. According to Cram's law firm partner at the time of his disbarment, Elayne Crompton, "Jack was stomped on big time because he had proof that could put away Supreme Court judges, and the powerful men they protect. This goes to the highest levels of power" (Appendix VI, Hidden from History).


Andres-Auger and her allegations about child sex trafficking are mentioned in Earth Into Property: Colonization, Decolonization, And Capitalism, by Anthony J. Hall, as they were described by Jennifer Wade of Amnesty International in Vancouver:


"The sex trade in children is not a recent happening in Vancouver. While doing some research for this presentation, I came across the affidavit of a Cree lawyer named Renate Andres-Auger naming prominent legal personalities and the B.C. Law Society for destroying her legal practice and libeling and slandering her (I have a copy of that affidavit listing prominent plaintiffs with me). Renate Auger alleged this happened partly because of her knowledge of pedophile rings operating out of the Vancouver Club."  -Jennifer Wade


Chief Justices and Corrupt Chiefs: Partners in Crime?


In 1999, one independent BC interior newspaper, The Radical, did report on allegations of an organized sex trade in the Prince George area involving judges, doctors, lawyers, police, and even band councils. The paper was forced to close down after one of the accused-Ed John, a long-time chief of the TI'azt'en band (near Prince George) and head of the First Nations Summit-launched a lawsuit. Ironically, Ed John was named minister of Child & Family Services in November 2000, just as the allegations against him were becoming more public, For those involved in exposing Ed John & others, his appointment as an un-elected minister "brought to light the extent of official protection for pedophiles in public office, and the systemic nature of this crime" (see Appendix VI: Evidence of crimes against aboriginal children, including pedophilia, Hidden from History). .


These allegations have been echoed by others over the years, including Squamish elder Harriet Nahanee, who has stated that she saw young Native girls being removed from the reserve to serve as prostitutes for wealthy businessmen connected to the Vancouver Club. James Craven, a Blackfoot and constitutional lawyer, has corroborated this story & stated:


"It has been alleged with considerable supporting evidence, that some of the same forces involved in trafficking young Indian boys & girls for the rich & powerful pedophiles are also involved in key aspects of the BC Treaty Commission as well as being involved in using isolated reserves for the landing & distribution of drugs ..." 

("Reprisals due to exposure of pedophile ring," Statement by James Craven, August 3, 1998)



In 1994, two elders of the Tseshaht band on Vancouver Island stated that "Edward John &, Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council members Ron Hamilton and Charlie Thompson have embezzled money from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs & the federal Department of Indian Affairs to finance an extensive drug trafficking & pedophile network" that sells drugs on Native reserves &

supplies Native children to wealthy clients in Vancouver, Victoria, Whistler and other areas (quoted in Appendix VI, Hidden from History). 


Similar claims were. made in Vancouver by speakers at a public tribunal on Residential

Schools held in 1998, organized by the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (IHRAAM, a United Nations NGO with the Economic & Social Council), including Frank Martin & Helen Michel, Harriet Nahanee, and four others.


According to Martin, "Ed John sponsors drug trafficking on northern reserves using Treaty Commission & Indian Affairs money. He's the power up there... but for Ed John to keep power he needs to manipulate drugs & the cops" (Appendix VI, Hidden from History).


On November 14, 2019, John was charged with four counts of having sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent. The alleged criminal acts date to 1974 and involve the same woman, whose identity is protected by court order. The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council issued a statement indicating that as the matter is before the courts it would have no comment. 


On July 8, 2020 he entered a plea of not guilty. His trial began in provincial court in Prince George on July 25, 2022. On the second day of the trial, the complainant broke down under cross-examination by John's lawyer, who brought out inconsistencies in her testimony and produced a photograph showing that John had long hair at the time, contradicting her testimony that his hair was short. After an extended consultation with the complainant the Crown determined that the prospects for conviction were poor and entered a stay of proceedings, dropping the charges.


Allegations of an organized drug & sex-trade involving government, business, as well as band chiefs, are not so far fetched and fit within systemic & intergenerational patterns of abuse. Many current chiefs & councillors are survivors of Residential Schools, and some have been convicted of sexual crimes, yet still remained in power, In reality, however, most sexual abuse in Native communities goes unreported, with perpetrators rarely being charged & convicted.


Next Steps

Calling for an Inquiry for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Men or an external review that includes all Missing and Murdered Indigenous People emphasizing on Police Misconduct would again have restrictions due to police unions and political interference. So then we must take things a step further and go to the U.N Security Council to intervene on Canada’s violations of International Laws and Genocide. 


Canada has come under scrutiny from international bodies, including the Organization of American States (OAS), a political organization of states from the Americas. In 2019 OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro published a letter to Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy Prime Minister expressing his “deepest consternation regarding the existence of evidence of genocide against Indigenous women and girls in your country.” Almagro proposed to support an external investigation into the MMIWG inquiry’s findings of genocide.


“Given that your country has always sided with scrutiny and international co-operation in situations where human rights are violated in different countries, I am expecting to receive a favourable response to this request,” he said.


The major violations of Human Rights Canada is currently engaged in his holding us in servitude to a foreign monarchy and forcing us to play the role of the legal person, a corporation in order to violate such Human Rights. A Corporation can not have Human Rights.


The 1893 Statute Law Revision Act removed Section 2 of the 1867 BNA Act. Any future Monarch would no longer rule over the dominions. After Queen Victoria died so did the BNA Act. 1931 Statute of Westminster affirmed that the U.K no longer had authority and rule over its Dominions. The 1945 Letters Patent Constituting the Office of the Governor General was a forgery by “Canada”, a corporation to fool the population that it was still connected to the UK in order to usurp sovereignty over the people and the lands. 1982 amendment to the 1867 BNA Act to create the the 1867 Constitution Act and 1982 Constitution Act was enacted by a foreign monarch and government that had no lawful and legal authority to do so. No Constitution Exists. Such “Acts” are Constitutions in name only and are only charters of a corporation. 


The United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights

  • Article 4, No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.


U.N Declaration on Civil and Political Rights

- Article 8 SubSection 2. No One Shall be held in Servitude


The U.N. Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and

Peoples 1960


Canada in its laws, legislation, courts are holding us in servitude to a foreign monarch that legally and lawfully the former Dominion is no longer connected to. The corporation of Canada is fraudulently presenting itself as a Federal Government with fraudulent documents being presented as a Constitution of the People. All Indigenous lands obtained by the UK in Treaties with Indigenous Nation reverted back to Indigenous title in 1931. Canada and its Provinces have no Treaties with Indigenous Nations. Canada is unlawfully and illegally occupying Indigenous lands and profiting from the wealth of our resources and withholding our Trust Fund which operates now as the Canada Consolidated Fund. Canada is holding us in servitude to its Indian Act forcing us to play the role of “Indian” a legal person (corporation) to continue to wage genocide upon our Peoples. 


When presenting ourselves to the U.N we need to take ourselves out of the position of the legal person and or “Indian.” Even the U.N attempts to place this chicanery of corporate personhood upon all Peoples in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights which state:


The U.N’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 6; Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. 


The legal definition of a “person” is a corporation. A person (corporation) can not have human rights only benefits of a citizen (economic enslavement). The distinction of what are Human Rights and Citizen Benefits is the use of the word “Everyone.” When Everyone is used they are talking about Human Rights, when they use “Citizen” it is for the legal person. 


Truth and Reconciliation, MMIWG2S, "Aboriginal Healing" our struggles is an Industry where many are making careers off our misery. Activism also has become Big Business. Resistance has Incorporated where Decolonization needs to Decolonize. We need to sober up from this pacification and Get Organized.


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