{"id":482382,"date":"2026-02-18T06:05:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482382\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T06:05:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:05:39","slug":"respect-our-people-pagc-demands-changes-amid-conflicts-between-security-and-indigenous-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482382\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Respect our people\u2019: PAGC demands changes amid conflicts between security and Indigenous people"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

At a meeting on Friday, the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) called for changes to address what it calls systemic failures in contracted and privatized hospital security.<\/p>\n

The meeting was held in response to two recent incidents involving hospital security officers in Saskatchewan’s health-care system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In December, Brydon Lafaver was filmed being wheeled out of Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert by security officers and left in the snow during extreme winter conditions. Weeks later, in January, cancer patient Trevor Dubois died after an altercation with security at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m tired of you know, getting the videotapes \u2026 of people now, how they’re treated,\u201d Grand Chief Brian Hardlotte told reporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the focus of Friday \u2019s session was not on individual workers, but on fixing the systems that allowed these incidents to happen.<\/p>\n

The meeting was attended by leaders from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), Prince Albert Police Chief Patrick Nogier, corporate representatives from private security firms, the First Nations Health Ombudsperson and others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"RowsThe Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) held a meeting on Friday with security companies, police, the Saskatchewan Health Authority and others to discuss the behaviour of security guards in Saskatchewan. (Travis Reddaway\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Hardlotte said more empathy and cultural and de-escalation training are needed for security staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vice Chief Joseph Neyanitawwatasick recounted an example of a late-night scene in the emergency room of Victoria Hospital when an exhausted mother with her three-year-old was asked by a clerk, \u201cWhy did you come here?\u201d<\/p>\n

In a vacuum, that’s a simple intake question. But in the context of generational trauma and systemic racism, it was more than that, Neyanitawwatasick said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lady took it as, \u2018What do you mean? I\u2019m allowed to be here,\u2019\u201d he said. The result was chaos \u2014 not because of a medical crisis, but because the mother felt she was being policed rather than helped, he said.<\/p>\n

The security perspective\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lions security company CEO Leo Ekhaguere said private security guards are dealing with all kinds of dangers such as used needles, makeshift knives and modified guns. He described a recent incident when a man with no legs allegedly brandished a knife and threatened to kill an officer at the South Hill Mall in Prince Albert.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are not dealing with the individual,\u201d Ekhaguere told the meeting. \u201cYou are dealing with the addiction \u2014 to drugs, to alcohol. You must know exactly what to do to ensure you are not hurt in the long run.”<\/p>\n

The meeting ended not with a resolution, but with a deadline. The PAGC is demanding more than just “respectful dialogue” \u2014 it wants a fundamental shift in the “tools in the toolbox,” the group heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kindly ask the security companies to respect our people, our Indigenous women and men that are out there that are struggling with addictions. There’s no need for violence,\u201d Neyanitawwatasick said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-482382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}