The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples is calling for all charges against a La Ronge woman to be dropped.
CAP National Vice-Chief Kim Beaudin said Emily Kammermayer won’t receive a fair trial because of past interactions with RCMP, insisting her case should go into mediation.
“There is a history of neglect and bias from the RCMP in their interactions with Emily,” Beaudin said.
“These charges cannot be allowed to have merit given the transgressions in the handling of this case, and previous instances concerning Emily.”
Kammermayer, who is a member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, faces charges that include assault with a weapon, two counts of uttering threats, mischief, assaulting a police officer and two counts of obstructing a police officer.
Police arrested Kammermayer when she visited the La Ronge Health Centre on Dec. 29 with her two-year-old son. After a physician denied her son an X-ray, she and the doctor got into an argument and RCMP officers were called.
As she left the centre, she alleges two RCMP officers assaulted her during the arrest. A third officer arrived and she was cuffed at the wrists and ankles and was allegedly told to “hop like a bunny” into the detachment’s detention area, she said.
Beaudin said this treatment happened because Kammermayer is Indigenous. Kammermayer has filed a complaint with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.
At a virtual news conference on Thursday, Kammermayer and Beaudin detailed two other incidents.
First, Kammermayer said one of the arresting officers was neglectful in a prior case involving her when she brought forward sexual assault allegations after a home invasion while she was in high school. The officer allegedly “failed to pursue the medical results necessary from the rape-kit” and didn’t fully investigate her case, a Thursday news release said.
Second, Kammermayer says RCMP went to her house without a warrant for her arrest in January. She alleges RCMP threatened to repeat the incident at the hospital if she didn’t come outside to talk. She also alleges RCMP searched her house without a warrant.
Kammermayer and Beaudin have also called for the release of her arrest recording.
The RCMP did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokeswoman for the attorney general declined to comment on a matter before the court, adding that any allegations will be addressed during the proceedings.
“The Crown pursues cases for which there is a reasonable likelihood of conviction and where it is in the public interest to proceed,” she wrote in a statement. “Those two things are re-examined at various stages.”
Kammermayer is representing herself, has not yet entered a plea, and said she hasn’t received disclosure of the evidence. She is next due in court on Monday.
