Brooks Secondary School’s annual graduation ceremony at Hap Parker Arena on June 2 was tarnished by an incident involving a young woman from Port Alberni, and a mother and her son.
The woman accosted the young man, who was graduating from Brooks, and his mother, with accusations about past personal relationships, which escalated to racially inappropriate language, according to witnesses.
“The person involved in the alleged assault, who made the derogatory comments, is not currently a Powell River resident, nor a student,” said School District 47 superintendent Jay Yule. “The parties involved, however, were well known to each other. Although racial slurs were used in the course of the conflict, our understanding of the incident itself is that it was not racially motivated but rather the result of ongoing personal issues between several teens.”
The altercation took place during the mother-and-son dance but ended quickly when parents stepped in, according to Brooks principal Bill Rounis.
“We've dealt with the incident in terms of it being a police matter,” said Rounis.
Both he and Yule said the school and district are taking the matter very seriously.
“The school district will not tolerate racist remarks, bullying or violence of any sort,” said Yule. “We used the full force of the school act and law to address the issue. The incident raises awareness around safety precautions for all our graduates during the ceremony.”
Rounis said the Brooks student is okay.
“We had a couple of meetings and a follow-up meeting with the family,” said Rounis. “Beyond that, it's fair to say that the student is fine. He obviously was shocked and appalled it happened, as was I.”
Rounis added that Powell River RCMP was contacted and told there was a complaint, a file was created and the parents have spoken to police.
“I can confirm there is an investigation open in regards to an incident at the graduation,” said RCMP constable Ron Palmquist. “However, as it involves youths, under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, I cannot release any information in regards to the investigation.”
Tla’amin Nation hegus Clint Williams said something like this happening during a time of historic reconciliation is unfortunate.
“It's a shame that an event like this had to ruin a mother and son's evening,” said Williams. “There's a time and place for people to settle their differences but the ceremony is something people look forward to their whole school career.”
Rounis said he heard secondhand accounts from those who were in the arena and witnessed what had happened.
“I was outside dealing with another issue at that point,” said Rounis. “I'd met up with the RCMP member who was there that night and then we both came into the hall.”
The second incident Rounis was attending took place in the parking lot outside Powell River Recreation Complex.
“We were dealing with some kids who were being extremely inappropriate; not our kids, former grads from what I gather,” said Rounis. “They were doing stuff in the parking lot that they shouldn't be doing and then trying to come back in.”
When he and the officer returned inside, the young woman had already left.
“I have no idea where she went after the incident happened,” said Rounis. He added that he contacted Alberni District Secondary School, where the woman attends, and the administration there is also taking the matter seriously.
Rounis said the school is discussing better security for future graduations to ensure they are nights to celebrate.
“It certainly was a positive night; it had a lot of things that were memorable in a good way,” he added. “This did happen and it's unfortunate. We know there's a lot of reasons why we want to continue to move forward with an event like this.”
Williams said the incident underlies the importance of work between indigenous and non-indigenous people, particularly with Powell River schools
“It’s so important we acknowledge and respect one another and this is why it's so important for this work to carry on,” said Williams. “This is why it's so valuable to build respect with one another.”
