‘He had this contagious smile that may simply make you smile whenever you’re having a tough day,’ stated Jon’s sister, Leslie
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A number of hundred individuals joined a Monday stroll to honour Jon Wells, the Blood Tribe member who died after an altercation with Calgary police earlier in September.
Marchers demanded justice for Wells’ demise, which occurred at a Calgary lodge after officers “utilized numerous makes use of of pressure” throughout an altercation that lasted greater than three minutes.
Tales and reminiscences of Wells had been shared exterior the Carriage Home Inn, the place he died Sept. 17 after repeatedly saying to officers “I don’t wish to die.”
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“We simply wish to be sure that individuals know who Jon was,” his sister, Leslie Wells, stated in an interview earlier than the stroll started to the CPS District 6 workplace.
“Jon was a really good-looking, humble and loving father, brother, good friend, son,” she stated. “As tragic as this case was — which may have completely been prevented — we simply need (individuals) to know who he was; this sort, non-combative individual.”
As a number of hundred individuals started to file into the parking zone exterior the lodge, Leslie Wells stated: “It is a particular time; we would like justice, we would like justice for Jon, and we’re not going to cease.”
She prolonged that justice to all Indigenous males “who’ve gone by the hands of police. We wish justice for all of them.”
‘I actually pray that we get justice’
The stroll coincided with the Nationwide Day for Fact and Reconciliation, and Leslie stated the plan is to host it yearly.
Shane Little Bear, who says he was a mentor to Jon Wells, spoke to the gang earlier than the stroll started.
“Rising up watching this man, I taught him the way to steer wrestle, he had the kindest coronary heart,” he stated. “In the present day, you already know, I actually pray that we get justice.”
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Jon Wells, 42, was an completed steer wrestler, changing into champion of the 2012 Indian Nationwide Finals Rodeo. He was additionally an energetic member in his neighborhood, serving as president of the Blood Tribe Agricultural Society and serving to individuals at a restoration centre.
Leslie Wells says she’ll bear in mind her brother’s smile and his form phrases.
“He was a godfather to my daughter, and the encouragement he gave to not simply her however to everyone, all of the youth, all the ladies and boys who’re within the rodeo sport — he had this contagious smile that may simply make you smile whenever you’re having a tough day.”
She doesn’t know why he was on the Carriage Home Inn that evening.
“There needed to have been a purpose why he got here right here. He wouldn’t have simply proven as much as trigger hassle,” she stated.
Calgary police must study extra about Indigenous individuals: sister
The Alberta Critical Incident Response Workforce continues to research the incident, however beforehand stated — with out naming Jon Wells — that the person was unarmed and never recognized by officers at any level.
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Because the stroll started to the sound of beating drums, the gang made its manner alongside Bonaventure Drive S.W., making a number of stops for prayer.
Extra phrases had been shared and tears had been shed as soon as the march arrived on the police station.
The lesson for Calgary police, Leslie Wells stated, is they should study extra about Indigenous individuals.
“They should know the cultural security, the cultural competency of approaching Indigenous males,” she stated. “The traumas that our individuals have gone by way of, the intergenerational traumas, the residential faculties, each certainly one of us are going to really feel scared after we see somebody of authority.”
Throughout Nationwide Day for Fact and Reconciliation at The Confluence (previously Fort Calgary), residential college survivor and member of Siksika First Nation Robin Large Snake remembered Jon Wells.
“Justice should prevail. These are our brothers and sisters who had been taken away,” Large Snake stated.
“What occurred to their slogan, ‘To serve and shield’? Should we carry on hurting?
“I ask you my individuals, my brothers and sisters, the individuals of Calgary, we should stroll collectively, hand in hand, to cast off the racism that’s happening.”
— With recordsdata from Scott Strasser
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