BY BRIDGET MORAN

In the final requiem for Coreen
Thomas and in any collection of
famous last words, the statement
of Vanderhoof coroner, Eric
Turner, speaking in early Sep-
tember about the Coreen Thomas
inquest, must be included:

“I will not allow the inquest to be
used as a political forum or as an
arena for the settlement of social
injustice—the inquest can possibly
be concluded at one sitting’.

When that inquest finally opened
in Vanderhoof September 25, it was
concluded, not at one sitting, but
over a span of four long days and
nights of hearings. Far from ex-
cluding social injustice as a topic
for investigation, it was one long
information that Native people are
treated as second class citizens in
this country, in everything ranging
from bus service and sewage to
their status in law. ‘

Moreover, it was not Eric Turner
who conducted the inquest after
all, but Glen McDonald, supervisor

_ of coroners for British Columbia.
‘Eric Turner was forced to
disqualify himself when the press
and the  attorney-general’s
department discovered, that on
May 27, 1965, Mr. Turner,
operating a motor vehicle, hit and
killed a man and left the scene of
the accident.

Turner had a_ precedent, of
course, for believing the inquest of
Coreen Thomas, killed by a car
driven by Richard Redekop, could
be concluded in one sitting.

Just two years before, he

' presided at another inquest—into

the death of Coreen’s cousin, Larry
Thomas, killed by Richard
Redekop’s brother, Stanley. Ac-
cording to the Thomas family,
their solicitor, at that time living
sixty-two miles away in Prince
George, was notified of the inquest
just one hour before it convened. I
was told that Larry’s mother, who
attempted to get into the inquest,
‘was tossed into jail and held there
until the proceedings were over,
that several witnesses were not
called and, despite the fact that
there were six people in the cab of
the truck that struck Larry

Thomas, the inquest found no

negligence on the part of the
driver.

Two years later, on the night of
July 2, 1976, Coreen Thomas, nine
months pregnant, attended a street
dance celebrating the fiftieth
birthday of the village of Van-
derhoof. When the dance was over,

with her fourteen-year-old sister,

Margie, and several other com-
panions, she started to walk the
nine miles to Stoney Creek
Reserve, home for over four
hundred native people. Walking
this nine miles over narrow gravel
road was second nature to Coreen
and her people. Although . the
reserve was established in 1870,
bus service was available to Stoney
Creek people only between 1952
and 1956, when the Kenney Dam
was being built. When the Dam
was completed, bus service ceased
and has never resumed, despite
requests from the native people to
the Department of Indian Affairs.

Still without the limits of the
village of Vanderhoof, in a thirty
mile per hour zone, on a narrow
paved road leading up a hill, lit
with street lamps, at about three

_. o’clock in the morning of July 3,

1976, Coreen was struck by a car

- Vanderhoof:
story of an inquest

driven by Richard Redekop. Skid

marks from the front wheels of his
car measured 71.7 feet. Coreen was

carried along with the car and,
when it finally came to a stop,
she was flung through the air,
coming to rest on the pavement.

Death, both for her and her
unborn child, probably followed
very quickly.

When the autopsy was per-
formed, her baby was separated
from her and was buried with her,
cradled in her arms.

The people of Stoney Creek
knew, in the investigation which
followed, that witness after witness
had told RCMP officers of high
speed, and they were therefore
stunned to read in the Vanderhoof
paper that the coroner, Eric
Turner, had decided, on the basis
of his investigation, that no inquest
was necessary and that no charges
had been laid or were con-
templated against the driver.

At this point, Coreen and Sophia
Thomas, on behalf of the
Homemakers contacted the B.C.
Indian Homemakers in Vancouver
and within days, the Human Rights
Branch, the B.C. Rolice Com-
mission and the attorney-general’s

Sophie Thomas at the grave of her niece, Coreen Thomas.

which time the reading was .08.
Harry Rankin, in cross
examination of expert witnesses,
established the fact that since
alcohol is eliminated from the
blood-stream at the rate of .015 per
— hour, Mr. Redekop’s actual blood
alcohol reading at the time of the
accident was probably .095, well
above the lega) impairment level.
RCMP officers testified that they
gave Richard Redekop none of the
usual tests for impairment.
o According to the rough notes I
took during the inquest five eye
witnesses, all of them white,
estimated that the car driven by
Richard Redekop was travelling
between 40 and 60 miles per hour in
‘the 30 mile per hour zone. Twelve
native people, also eye witnesses,
estimated the speed at between 50
and 80 miles per hour. Expert
police witnesses, studying the skid
marks, stated that the lowest
possible speed at the beginning of
the skid marks was 37 to 41 miles
per hour which would seem to
indicate that speed was higher
before the brakes were engaged.
o In the country club at-
mosphere which exists in towns
like Vanderhoof, between the

When the inquest finally opened in Vanderhoof September
25, it concluded, not in one sitting, but over a span of four

long days and nights .

Far from excluding social

injustice as a topic for investigation, it was one long
information that Native peagple are treated as second class

citizens... .-

department, were involved. Ad-
mist mounting pressure, at the end
of August, Eric Turner, announced
that an inquest would be held.

When the Inquest opened finally
with Harry Rankin representing
the B.C. Indian Homemakers and
witha jury of two white people and
four native people, pressure from
native people around the province
ensured that the wider issue of
social justice for Indians would
not, and could not, be ignored.

Four days of questioning and
cross questioning elicited the
following facts:

o Although Coreen was struck at
3:00 a.m.—the time of death ac-
cepted by the inquest jury—
Richard Redekop was not given a
breathalyzer test until 4:10 a.m., at

Sap eo OE Re ee eee

RCMP and the coroner, both
parties ignored the reports of eye
witnesses and expert witnesses,
and decided instead to accept the
estimate of speed at 30 miles per
hour, given by Richard Redekop
and his passenger. .

“In connection with the driver of
this vehicle” said Harry Rankin to
Constable Taylor, ‘‘we have
evidence of speed and alcohol.
What DOES a person have to do
before he is charged in Van-
derhoof?’’ ;

Evidence was also presented
that witnesses as young as fourteen
were interrogated without adults
present, while young native girls
were allegedly pressured and
threatened.

Moreover, the RCMP seemed to

Mine:

be employing a double standard in
its investigation. Looking at only
two examples, Faye Haugen,
common-law wife of Richard
Redekop and a passenger in the
car with him, was questioned until
she began to cry, at which time she
was allowed to go home.

upgraded, that no person be placed
in the morgue before a death
certificate is issued, that
breathalyzer tests be given as soon
after an accident as possible, that
the RCMP be encouraged to have a
parent or guardian present when
questioning witnesses, sixteen
years of age and under, and that
Stoney Creek Band and the Van-
derhoof village council work
together to set up a friendship
centre.

As I sat listening to the verdict,
good and fair as it was, I thought,
holy St. Patrick, I. would like to
make a, few recommendations of
my own.

I would for example, recommend
that the mayor of Vanderhoof, as
the Chief Magistrate, involve
himself with the issues of law and
order in his municipality and its
environ, to ensure that RCMP
officers employ one standard, not
two, while carrying out their
duties, and that in the sale and
serving of alcohol and in the
operation of motor vehicles, laws
are strictly enforced for all people.

I would

; recommend that
coroners be chosen, not by RCMP
officers (which for all practical
purposes, is the way the system _
operates in many communities), .
but by citizens of the community,

and that native people be involved -

in this process.
I would further recommend that
the Department of Indian Affairs

| can still see Sophie Thomas’ face . . . when she said to
me: ‘‘Bridget, when that coroner said in August that no
charges would be laid, and we heard all the lies about
Coreen, we did not know what to do or who to turn to.”

‘service in

Questioning was resumed at a later
date.

In contrast Margie Thomas,
fourteen-year-old sister of the
deceased, and a small and timid
girl, was told to come in for
questioning—without concern as to
how she was to travel the nine
miles to the police station—and her
relatives were left sitting on the
steps of the Station while she was
interrogated alone.

While most statements were
simply that, a page or two long,
hers was a full scale interrogation
which went on for five long pages.
She said she was threatened by the
RCMP in their efforts to place the
blame for the accident on Coreen
and when she broke down, crying,
the constable questioning her ‘‘just
let her cry and then we went on
with it’’.

o Although the time of the ac-
cident was 3:00 a.m., the am-
bulance was not called until 3:40
a.m. and arrived at the scene at
3:50 a.m. Coreen was transported
to thehospital. A nurse checked for
pulse and then, in the absence of a
doctor, had her placed in the
morgue. When. the doctor finally
arrived, after Coreen had been in
the morgue for an hour, he had no
difficulty in pronouncing her dead.

o The coroner’s August report,
filed after his inquiry, was brief:
He concluded that Coreen, in-a
drunken condition, had darted
across the road and that no blame
was attached to the driver.

The findings of the inquest are
public knowledge. The jury found
that Coreen died of a fractured
skull and that the driver of the car
was negligent in that he was
moving too fast. The jury
recommended that the emergency
Vanderhoof be

immediately release funds to en-

able the people of Stoney Creek.

to set up and operate an adequate
bus service between the Reserve
and the Village of Vanderhoof. I
would also recommend that
money be released to allow Indians
to set up their own school systems
and a sewage system.

Knowing that out of every dollar
the Department of Indian Affairs
spends, only fifteen cents filters
down to the reserve and that in the
case of Stoney Creek, this fifteen
cents goes tosupport the stores and
the taxis of Vanderhoof, I would
recommend that the Department
of Indian Affairs immediately
release funds to allow the people of
Stoney Creek to set up a co-
operative enterprise such as
logging or ranching, in order to
provide an economic base for the
Reserve, and further, that such
funds be sufficient to allow natives
to set up a building complex on the
reserve so that food, drug supplies,
laundry facilities, recreation
services, all could be obtained on
the reserve itself.

Above all, I would recommend
that the Department of Indian
Affairs release funds so _ that
natives could train their own
people to serve as ombudspersons
on Reserves across Canada.

I can still see Sophie Thomas’
face, as we were feasting on moose
steak and all the trimmings one
evening on the reserve, when she
said to me, ‘‘Bridget, when that
coroner said in August that no
charges would be laid, and we
heard all the lies about Coreen, we
did not know what to do or who~to
turn to.”’

I thought then, and I think now,
that she voiced the continuing
dilemma of all her people.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 8, 1976—Page 3

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