Curtis Brick’s tragic death raises the issue of systemic racism
Curtis Brick died last month after lying in the sun at a Vancouver park on one of the hottest days the city had seen all summer. Curtis Brick was a homeless aboriginal man. Though the park was filled with people, he lay for seven hours until an aboriginal outreach worker intervened and called 911. Now questions about the way Curtis Brick was treated by emergency personnel has advocates calling for a coroner’s inquiry.
The grand chief of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Stewart Phillip said at a news conference, “We’re absolutely outraged that yet another aboriginal man has died as a direct consequence of the failure in sensitivities of the emergency services.”
We speak with Christine Smith-Parnell, executive director of Vancouver Aboriginal Transformative Justice Services Society, and David Eby, executive director of B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
