Protesters young and old share experiences of racism at Regina rally

The sweet smell of burning sage drifted on a lazy summer breeze across a Canadian Tire parking lot on Regina's east side Friday as about 50 Indigenous demonstrators gathered to protest racism in the province.

Their heart-felt stories, punctuated by the sound of their drums, came in the wake of a video released by Kamao Cappo, an Indigenous man who had an encounter with a Canadian Tire manager earlier in the week that turned physical.

Cappo says the incident took place after he was accused of trying to steal from the store — an allegation he denies.

Emotions among those attending ranged from sorrow to rage.

Norma Caldwell Hiltergerke of the Cote First Nation, near Kamsack embodied the latter. Discrimination is rampant, and Indigenous people are "always" labelled, she said.

"I've been dealing with this all my life. I've been followed around stores. Some people, they look at you: 'Oh my, better cross the street, we don't want to walk by that Indian. She might rob us,' " she said.

She said the discrimination she was condemning at the rally in Regina is also present in British Columbia, where she now lives.

"It's all the same old rhetoric from the time the Ku Klux Klan … started here in Saskatchewan. Their same hatred is spreading again across the country, and many of you people don't say a damn thing!" she shouted at reporters.

Others at the gathering also spoke about the spread of hate, including Patricia Deiter, a teacher and resident of Peepeekisis First Nation, about 100 kilometres northeast of Regina.

"I work really hard to make sure that my students appreciate Canada, and it's really hard to teach our First Nations people not to be so full of hate," she said.

"This was our land, this is our homeland, and they know it," she said. "And they come into the cities and they get followed around and racially profiled."

She said events such as the one recorded by Cappo anger First Nations people and encourage young Indigenous people to hate. As such, she said, awareness about discrimination needs to be raised and companies need to do more to stop it, including consequences for those who act in a racist manner.

A handful of youth were at the event. Despite being much younger than Cappo, they shared what they felt to be similar experiences.

"In, like, stores and stuff I just get stared at, like they're expecting us to do something bad," said Shanaya Buffalo of Nekaneet First Nation, near Maple Creek.

Her friend, Tori Gibson of White Bear First Nation, about 100 kilometres east of Weyburn, said she'd seen someone drive by the gathering shaking their head.

"It made me feel that we shouldn't be here, even though we should be, because it needs to stop."

Valyncia Sparvier, also of White Bear First Nation, said that she's been accused of being "brainwashed" for speaking about missing and murdered indigenous women.

"It made me really mad," she said. "Because they should be bringing our people up more instead of stepping all over us."

Regina Police Service had a presence at the event, with four vehicles on site and officers looking on from a short distance. However, the gathering remained peaceful, with children playing while parents spoke and marched.