A memorial round dance that was held at Regina’s Performing Arts Centre was forced to end early as an unfortunate incident interrupted the ceremony.
As Regina Police Service (RPS) confirms, a 15-year-old girl was arrested and charged after she allegedly sprayed bear mace inside the building where many people were affected.
“Officers found dozens of people outside the building, coughing, gagging and crying because of exposure to bear spray,” RPS stated in a release. “EMS arrived at the location to treat victims.”
Shylo Stevenson attended the round dance with his children hoping to have a good time listening and dancing the night away.
However, that all changed when he was one of the victims who were sprayed directly as he tried to break up an altercation.
“That in itself was just like a shock and a surprise … it escalated really quickly from pulling some of the girls apart to about 50 youth sitting in the foyer … chanting, ‘Fight, fight, fight,'” said Stevenson.
“I leaned over to the staff member that was there and I said, ‘We’re going to need police help’ … and that’s when I turned from the desk to look back up. My hands were up to keep people apart. The girl in front of me got the bear spray and when she ducked, I got the remainder of the spray on the first one.”
Stevenson was immobilized and remembers hearing the bear mace can go off again and heard more screaming and yelling. Once he heard his kids were fine, he was dragged outside where the sounds of sirens filled the air.
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“There was just a line of ambulances treating people and it was just mayhem … useless mayhem,” he said. “We were at a ceremony, and people need to remember that. We need to really learn and teach our youth, like the trauma that everybody went through last night.”
A powwow and round dance Master of Ceremonies (MC) echoes Stevenson’s sentiments. Sanford Strongarm says parents need to step forward and be ready to take care of their children.
“Something like this shouldn’t have to happen within our … ceremonies,” said Strongarm, who is from the Kawacatoose First Nation.
“That’s not a part of our customs and our traditions. It’s not a way of how we do things as First Nations people.“
Strongarm says he doesn’t like the finger-pointing and blaming each other but says people need to take care of their children to grow up in the right way.
“We need to put forward to make our young people understand more about our way of life,” he said. “I’ve always been told … if you want to be a good person … you’ve got to work on it. You got to go out there and try your best to follow our traditions. I think our young people are lacking a lot of that kind of teachings as well.”
Stevenson said he won’t be pursuing charges against the suspect, who was arrested, but hopes the person learns a valuable lesson in the whole ordeal.
“We can recover from this. These are youth. These are children, and we need to step up as a community, as families, and as our Indigenous way to help guide them in the right direction,” he said.
“The last thing we need is to slap a record on somebody that prevents them from their future.“
RPS stated in the release that a 15-year-old girl is facing a charge of assault with a weapon. In accordance with the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the accused cannot be named and has made an appearance on these charges in Youth Court on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023.
Both Stevenson and Strongarm say implementing new security measures are needed for round dances so people can feel safe attending celebrations and ceremonies.
In an emailed statement, the RPS stated last night’s incident has understandably upset people. There may be those who are concerned that this might signal a lack of respect for ceremony, or a safety issue.
“We do not have any indication that this is more than an altercation between a few people that, unfortunately, turned into an incident affecting an entire event and its attendees,” said police.
RPS will be hosting its annual community round dance on February 10, 2023, at the mâmawêyatitân centre.
They said community members who may feel some hesitation about attending might be reassured to know that there will be RPS officers on-duty at the round dance, in uniform and acting in a public safety and enforcement capacity.
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