A decision by the Supreme Court of Canada has cleared the way for a class-action lawsuit against the federal government for the behaviour of RCMP officers in the Yukon, N.W.T. and Nunavut.
The lawsuit, started by lead plaintiff Joe David Nasogaluak of Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., alleges Indigenous people are regularly assaulted by RCMP officers because of their racial origin, and the federal Crown has historically turned a blind eye.
It claims RCMP are responsible “for the epidemic of police assaults that take place in the Territories,” and that the federal Crown has been “systemically negligent” in funding, oversight, operation, supervision, control and support of
