N.B. news: Wolastoqey Nation calls for shooting inquiry [Video]

FREDERICTON –

Interactions between Indigenous people and law enforcement “too frequently” end in violence or death, say the six chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick in reaction to the recent killing of a Mi’kmaq man by a Mountie conducting a wellness check.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the chiefs said they were also joining Mi’kmaq chiefs in calling for an inquiry into systemic racism within the province’s justice system.

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The death of Steve “Iggy” Dedam is the result of systemic racism, Chief Ross Perley of the Tobique First Nation, which is part of the Wolastoqey Nation, said in an interview Wednesday. Perley noted that two Indigenous people were killed by New Brunswick police in 2020 — 48-year-old Rodney Levi and 26-year-old Chantel Moore.

“It’s unacceptable for police to be taking that kind of force, especially when they’re …