By Phillip Paul Martin

Midnight rides or starlight tours. That's what they are called these days. That's when the local police 'service' takes an 'Indian' out of town and leaves them there to find their way back into the city.

Recently the Saskatoon Police Service admitted that the rides might have been taking place there for some time. In mid-April in Winnipeg three Aboriginal men were picked up and taken far outside the actual city and left without their shoes.

Of course what happened in Winnipeg is all alleged until an investigation has been completed.

The reasons for the rides are simple supposedly. I guess the police are tired of dealing with the same individuals time after time and don't want to do the paperwork.

Also, Aboriginal people in the inner city are the easiest targets. Anyone who has taken the time to frequent Winnipeg's downtown knows what I'm talking about.

Of course the city police will investigate and what happens after that will largely determine whether there actually is an effort on the part of the Winnipeg Police Service to change their perceptions of Aboriginal people.

Now let's be abundantly clear here. Most of the WPS members I know do their jobs and have chosen to be what they are. They are police officers for a reason. But a very few apparently decided that they would take matters into their own hands and if the investigation finds that the ride did indeed take place then they must be held accountable.

I am aware that there is training underway to deal with this very issue. New recruits take part in a training session as part of their recruit training. I am also aware by talking with members of WPS that most of them don't think highly of the idea of starlight tours in general. But the point is that it probably did happen. Why would the individuals involved lie?

The galling part of this issue isn't that the rides happened. It's what the media did or more correctly didn't do when they initially learned what had allegedly taken place.

A story like that doesn't come at you and park itself on your lap every day.

CBC news had first crack at the story and chose to sit on it rather than file a story that would have gone coast to coast in light of what happened in Saskatoon. It would have taken something called investigation and that means hitting the streets and chasing down leads. It means calling on sources that have access to the type of information that gives you and idea of who you are dealing with.

I'm not saying that the victims in this case were outstanding citizens. There was an active warrant for one of them.

What I am saying is that when even members of the media judge the alleged victims not to be reliable based on their appearance then what does that say about us as journalists? It shows that we suffer from the same affliction that some police officers do.

The victims in this case believed that no one would listen to them because of who they are.

Just another Indian.
Sadly it seems, they were proven right.