The Manitoulin-Espanola OPP continues to investigate a brawl that broke out on Friday, Sept. 14 at Manitoulin Secondary School.
As of Sept. 20, six people have been charged — one adult and five youths — all of whom are from M'Chigeeng First Nation.
Community Safety Officer Cst. Marie Ford explained that this situation can be complicated as youth are involved and can not be identified under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
"They are from the First Nation which doesn't necessarily mean that they are First Nations (people), and I'm not saying that they all are or they all aren't, but it's difficult because we're dealing with young people so we're obviously not naming anybody," said Ford.
"Our investigation is evidence-based, we're looking at evidence and talking to people; we're talking to people and when we get the grounds to lay a charge, we lay a charge."
M'Chigeeng First Nation issued a statement about the brawl that questioned why only residents of the First Nation were charged, and accusing the OPP of attempting to put all the blame on First Nations people.
“This current situation can easily be construed as a blatant attempt to shift the blame on Indigenous peoples yet again,” the band-issued press release said.
There have been six charges laid so far in relation to the incident, though there could be more charges in the coming days and weeks as the officers continue to their investigation and more evidence is brought forward.
"In this situation where we arrest somebody or explain to them that they're going to be arrested and we'll be charging, we have people that turn themselves in and we deal with them and process them," said Ford.
"When people don't come and see us or don't make themselves available, which is common, we can't say that the person is charged because we haven't made contact with them. These charges that have been laid are people that have been arrested or have turned themselves in. If somebody is outstanding and we have to get a warrant, it takes that much longer and that information takes longer to get out to the public."
Ford is the school's community safety officer and had been at the school every day for the first two weeks of the school year, except one, Friday Sept. 14, when she was in Sudbury for training.
"I feel terrible because I have some really good connections with the kids there," said Ford. "It's been good this week, I've been in there every day, having lunch with the kids and talking with them. They're a great group of kids and it's a great school and I think we'll get through this together as a whole unit, all of the kids and the staff, we'll get through it."
Ford had been familiar with the school even before she took her role as community safety officer, and in the first two weeks of this school year she says there was no indication that a situation like that of Friday's melee was brewing.
"I wasn't aware of anything building up," said Ford. "It's not uncommon that if I'm away for the day that there's no police presence. For this first bit of the school year, I have been there every day because I find that's an important thing for me to do. I didn't know of a buildup, I certainly would've changed my arrangements (if I did). I was really sad when I heard it happened."
The investigation into the incident will continue as officers interview students, and the Manitoulin-Espanola OPP is appealing for anyone who may have any information, or video/audio recordings of Friday's incident to come forward or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
Members of the M’Chigeeng First Nation held a peaceful rally outside of the school Thursday morning, with close to 80 people in attendance.
"I really wish the students would come and speak for themselves because right now there are a lot of adults speaking for them," said Ford. "The consensus from my point of view is good, I was around them today while the rally was occurring and they were upbeat. They were good; they were all going to classes. There's a very good atmosphere in there and an atmosphere on wanting to move on, and get to some discussions and talking."
