Heiltsuk Nation says RCMP officer transferred after protests over racist Facebook posts
Posted May 30, 2024 8:03 am.
Last Updated May 30, 2024 8:47 am.
An RCMP member who made racist posts on social media has been transferred from a detachment on the Central Coast, according to the Heiltsuk Nation.
The Nation says they were told Const. Adrian Robinson would be moved out of Bella Bella on Wednesday.
Robinson has been under the spotlight since last week when a series of personal Facebook posts were discovered.
The posts targeted Indigenous and Black people, while another targeted Jehovah’s Witnesses.
According to the Nation, Robinson’s posts included a white man wearing an Afro-style wig with a caption saying “BLACK AND PROUD.”
Another social media post showed a man dressed in a colonial-style uniform in front of a Union Jack, with a comment: “Now, what’s to be done about these pesky natives stirring up trouble in the colonies.”
The RCMP had previously stated the social media posts were made “approximately nine to 17 years” before the officer joined the RCMP.
Last Friday, members of the Heiltsuk and their supporters protested outside the RCMP detachment calling on the Mounties to move Robinson out of town.
“We want to thank our community for reporting the racist Facebook posts and for raising their voices against racism and calling for accountability,” said Marilyn Slett, elected chief of the Heiltsuk Nation.
“Together, we will continue to stand up and fight for the elimination of racism and colonialism in the RCMP, so that one day, they may truly be a police force that will protect and serve our community.”
There have been recent tensions between the Heiltsuk and police.
Heiltsuk Nation member Maxwell Johnson was wrongly arrested and handcuffed in 2019 with his then-12-year-old granddaughter outside a Vancouver bank, triggering a human rights complaint against the Vancouver Police Board.
A trauma-healing ceremony was conducted in the community in 2022 after a settlement was reached.
But the two officers who arrested Johnson and his granddaughter did not attend, prompting a Heiltsuk chief to return a gift he received from Vancouver police Chief Adam Palmer at the ceremony.
CityNews has reached out to the RCMP for more information.
–With files from The Canadian Press
