EDMONTON—As Stan Mantik works his shift at the tavern in Kelliher, population 217, a man overhears him talking with a reporter about the story that’s cast a national spotlight over the tiny Saskatchewan community. In Kelliher, the man calls out with a laugh, they hold their KKK rallies on Saturday nights, don’t you know. “It’s small-town Saskatchewan,” Mantik tells Star Edmonton matter-of-factly over the phone. “Hell, let’s face it, the last Ku Klux Klan rally (here) was in Lemberg, Saskatchewan in 1964. White sheets and all on main street.” Kelliher made headlines more recently after a local resident flew a Nazi flag over their home. And despite the reaction at the tavern, not everyone is taking it lightly. Last weekend, after people complained about the flag, police spoke to the resident, who reportedly agreed to remove it when it stopped raining and was safe to do so. Then, on Saturday, a First Nations man posted a video on Facebook showing himself setting the flag on fire. The flag has cast a shadow over the town — but it’s also underscored what some have described as long-simmering racial tensions of a different stripe. Read more: Mounties in Saskatchewan investigating video of Nazi flag-burning Opinion | Tanya Talaga: The legacy of Colten Boushie is that Canadian justice means something entirely different for Indigenous peoples Opinion | Shree Paradkar: Our reaction to injustice for Colten Boushie is a reflection of our soul as individuals and Canadians The flag flying, and more importantly the reaction to it, illustrate the longstanding chasm that exists between Indigenous peoples and white settlers in Saskatchewan, and how raw the issue still is, said James Daschuk, an associate professor at the University of Regina. Kelliher has several First Nations nearby — the Muskowekwan First Nation is about 20 kilometres northwest — but the split between settler and First Nations communities is rooted in much more than proximity, Daschuk said. “In the Saskatchewan countryside you can have an Indigenous community within kilometres of a white community, and these two communities really don’t know each other, understand each other, sometimes don’t have anything to do with each other,” he said. Mantik described the village as insular — people tend to stick to their own groups, he said, particularly those with Ukrainian or Polish ancestry, and many are suspicious of businesses owned by people from outside the community. “If you move into town like I did you get shunned. This town is very clique-ish, very clan-ish — not with the white sheet (kind),” Mantik said wryly. Several Kelliher residents expressed anger to Star Edmonton about the flag incident. Others, like Mantik, said it’s been blown out of proportion. “Me, I don’t care,” Mantik said. “I don’t care if he put up an ISIS flag.” But some of the village’s residents cared enough about the flag to complain to RCMP. And one First Nations man cared enough to take matters into his own hands. “Considering the amount of First Nation kids that attended that school in that town I did it for not only them but for us and First Nation people,” reads a comment on a Facebook profile that posted the viral video. A man identified by several people as the resident of the home where the flag was flying did not respond to a request for comment. The relationship between Saskatchewan settlers and First Nations has been polarized since before the province was formed, through the 1900s when Indigenous peoples were “incarcerated in their own reserves,” Daschuk said. But there’s a demographic shift that is deepening the divide. As Canadians of European ancestry age, First Nations youth are the among fastest-growing and youngest demographic in the country. The dynamic is nothing new in Saskatchewan. Daschuk pointed to the case of Leo LaChance, a First Nations man who was shot and killed from behind a door in a Prince Albert pawn shop owned by Carney Nerland, a member of a white supremacy group, in 1991. Nerland later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a four-year sentence, which drew outrage. More recently, Colten Boushie was shot and killed by farmer Gerald Stanley for trespassing onto his land. Stanley was found not guilty of second-degree murder. The verdict was slammed by Boushie’s family as a miscarriage of justice. Eleanore Sunchild, a lawyer from Thunderchild First Nation with a law office in Battleford, has seen the racial divide in Saskatchewan firsthand. She is currently representing Boushie’s family in a civil claims lawsuit against Stanley and the RCMP. She said the Stanley acquittal was a turning point in the province, because it sent the message that a farmer’s property rights were more important than an Indigenous life. “It’s not getting any better,” Sunchild said. “But the racists are being louder because they feel they can be now very open in their views and nothing will happen to them. “Consequently, Indigenous people now feel unsafe in Saskatchewan,” she added. “And I think that they’re justified.” Back in Kelliher, local business owner Varian Carson said he can appreciate why people in town were angered by the flag, especially those who lost ancestors in the Second World War. “I don’t know why a person would even hang a sign like that in town here, with all the Ukrainian and Polish people that are here,” Carson said. As for the relationship between settlers and First Nations people in town, Carson said it’s unfriendly. “They don’t like natives really. I mean there’s a few living in town here … They got to come here to cash their treaty cheques,” he said. Gerald Faye, owner of Club15 Cheers Tavern in Kelliher, said he doesn’t think the village is unfriendly or “clique-ish.” He said there’s a strong German and Métis community in Kelliher and the village’s residents are friendly, inclusive and welcoming. “I think we got pretty much every nationality here that’s in the world, pretty close,” Faye said. “Well, I don’t think we have any Muslims.” He said there are “racists in every town,” he’s heard people express views from a bygone era in his own establishment. “I know some people that come in here and they’re sorry Hitler lost the war,” Faye said. “And I’ve known these people all their lives.” While Nazi sympathies or jokes about Ku Klux Klan rallies may seem off kilter in 2019, to Daschuk, it’s clear Saskatchewan is still reckoning with its racism problem. “For the last 120 years, there’s been a gap in understanding between the settler population and the Indigenous peoples … There’s been such a history of racial oppression in Saskatchewan and we can’t deny it.” Sunchild said she has seen a deep divide between white and Indigenous peoples throughout the prairies, but said rural, small-town Saskatchewan is “probably the worst” because the two groups have limited contact in many areas of the province. She said the Nazi flag flying incident should have been considered incitement of hatred, a hate crime in the criminal code, and that police were “complicit in the status quo.” “And I think people are comfortable with that here. But it’s got to change, otherwise things are going to get worse,” Sunchild said. “I don’t want to say everyone’s racist in Saskatchewan because they’re not,” she added. “But people need to speak up when they see something ... Like the hanging of that Nazi flag, that’s a symbol of hatred. That should not have been allowed.” On Wednesday, RCMP said they were investigating the latest development of the flag being burned and did not have further updates. Omar Mosleh is an Edmonton-based reporter covering inner-city issues, affordable housing and reconciliation. Follow him on Twitter: @OmarMosleh |