A video allegedly showed an RCMP officer sexually harassing an Indigenous teen. Then it went missing. Inside allegations of misconduct and cover-up in Canada’s national police force.
With files from The CANADALandJOURNAL.
When it first surfaced, the video — which surfaced on social media — had been viewed more than 30,000 times.
“He didn’t talk to me,” the Indigenous teen told The Tyee. “He didn’t even acknowledge me.”
In the video, an RCMP officer sexually harasses a young Indigenous male who appears to be from the Wet’suwet’en Nation in northern B.C.
The video that surfaced last month was allegedly filmed by a police constable under the command of the RCMP’s regional detachment in Nanaimo, B.C.
The incident was captured in March of this year by a Facebook Live broadcast. The footage was later broadcast by a police constable under the direction of a regional commander.
A Nanaimo RCMP press release says the incident is under investigation.
At a press conference on June 20 at Nanaimo RCMP headquarters, a regional commander said while the allegations are under investigation the RCMP and Constables are proud of the work they do and they have to “keep their heads up.”
The Tyee’s investigation found seven Indigenous children were sexually assaulted by the RCMP. The video was not released to the public.
Video shows officer sexually harassing an Indigenous teen
This is one of several cases involving alleged Indigenous sexual assault by RCMP officers against children. The Tyee previously told The CANADALandJOURNAL that it had obtained an internal RCMP document that appears to show that no action were taken against the officer responsible for the alleged sexual harassment in that case when it was first reported to the RCMP in June 2018.
RCMP Sergeant John MacLeod
On the video, the officer in question is identified as Sgts. John MacLeod, 30, Nicholas Wiebe, 24, and Paul Wiebe, 23.
Sgts. MacLeod and Wiebe worked with the community policing program, which is part of the RCMP’s Community Pol
