Three teen boys have been arrested for assault and a fourth arrest is expected in connection with a series of incidents including a fight that happened in Duncan on Monday.
The boys face a number of conditions, including making no contact with the victim, each other, and ensuring they “keep the peace” and maintain good behaviour, an RCMP release said Friday.
WATCH: Cowichan school fight posted on Facebook
The fight unfolded near the James Street campus of Cowichan Secondary School on Monday, according to the school district.
It took place on Ypres Street — and the district said this was the one that was most widely circulated on social media.
A Facebook video showed two teen boys throwing punches before one of them hit the ground, and others attacked him as he was down.
READ MORE: Duncan high school students throw punches in fight driven partly by racism, parents say
The fight did not happen on school property, the district maintained.
Then a crowd gathered for another altercation that looked like it would take place on Festubert Street, but it wasn’t confirmed whether a fight ever happened there.
The incidents provoked a response from both Cowichan Valley School District Supt. Rod Allen and Chief William “Chip” Seymour of Cowichan Tribes, who said, “we want to reinforce that we do not condone any kind of fighting, bullying or harassment of others — this applies on and off school property.”
Allegations of racism
The incidents have raised concerns about racism at Cowichan Secondary School.
One of the teens allegedly involved in the fight was white, the other was Indigenous.
Parents of students at the school say they have brought up concerns about racism against Indigenous people with the principal.
“They’d been calling our children down and saying that they were trash and that they didn’t belong here and that they wanted them to leave,” said one parent.
Candace Spilsbury, board chair of the Cowichan Valley School District, denied that there’s a problem of systemic racism at Cowichan Secondary.
Nevertheless, the school district and Cowichan Tribes are working on a program that would promote diversity and inclusion, that will be added to the curriculum there.
WATCH: School fight caught on video ignites racism debate at Vancouver Island school
“We realize that something has to happen today,” Seymour told Global News.
On Thursday, Cowichan Secondary School posted on Facebook a picture of two teen boys that it said were the ones involved in the fight.
The pair are teammates on the school’s rugby squad; they’re “good with each other,” and the fight was “not about race,” it said.
“It is over,” the post added.
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