BC man under RCMP investigation for online ‘dead Indian’ comment was once gay marriage trailblazer

A Terrace, B.C., man who was once a gay wedding trailblazer is now under an RCMP investigation for a possible hate crime after posting on social media that the “only good Indian is a dead Indian.”

Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
A Terrace, B.C., man who was once a gay wedding trailblazer is now under an RCMP investigation for a possible hate crime after posting on social media that the “only good Indian is a dead Indian.”

Terrace RCMP said Thursday an investigation is under way into the comment posted by Howard Boake on the web page of the local Terrace Standard newspaper. The RCMP said the investigation was triggered on Tuesday after they received a complaint from a “concerned citizen” over the comment.

Boake wrote on Facebook that, “the only good Indian is a dead Indian…Let have open season on em (sic).”

RCMP Const. Angela Rabut said the investigation is exploring whether there is a public safety component to the online comment.

“First and foremost is public safety. Is the public safe? We are going to make sure of that,” said Rabut.

Rabut said the investigation’s findings will be forwarded to local Crown counsel who will then determine whether there is enough to lay hate-crime related charges.

“We have to decide the criminal element of the comment,” she said.

Rabut would not say whether they contacted Boake because it was an “active investigation.”

APTN National News phoned and messaged Boake on Facebook seeking comment.

Boake’s comment was quickly deleted by the newspaper but not before someone captured an image of the racist words. The screen capture was shared widely over social-media and first reported by WestCoast Native News.

Boake’s publicly available Facebook page shows he posted a comment on an August 2014 story by the Terrace Standard about the Gitxsan Treaty Society delivering an eviction notice to CN.

“WHY do first nations THINK they OWN CANADA? (sic),” posted Boake.

Boake is Facebook friends with a man named Jimbob Harris-Boake. On July 23, 2003, the Terrace Standard led with a front-page story about the gay wedding of Jim Harris and Howard Boake beneath a headline saying it was the community’s first such nuptials.

The story said the two men were to be married on Aug. 9 of that year. The story described Boake as a retired truck driver who is now likely in his 70s. The pair made a lifelong commitment to each other two years earlier.

Photo from Aug. 9 wedding of Jim Harris and Howard Boake. (Facebook)
Photo from Aug. 9 wedding of Jim Harris and Howard Boake. (Facebook)

The marriage occurred before the full legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada.

Harris could also not be reached for comment.

Last week, Maclean’s magazine created a stir after it published a front page story declaring Winnipeg the most racist city in Canada and that the country had a worse race problem than the U.S.

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@JorgeBarrera

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12 thoughts on “BC man under RCMP investigation for online ‘dead Indian’ comment was once gay marriage trailblazer

  1. Richard Hugh Cox says:

    there’s no question about the intent of this idiots post, incitement of hatred against a clearly identifiable group, prosecute him!

  2. The millions of dollars he talks about is not taxpayers money. the government has been holding on to natives money and refuses to release to them.they use the money to build projects that benefit them. White settlers came here took our land murdered innocent woman and children.when they fought for what was rightly theirs we were called the savages. They tell us to go back where we came from where do they think that is?

  3. when one of us suffers we all lose, the roots of all evil is injustice and intolerance is her soul, the cure is to love one another because when we love everything is done with help. and pride becomes the wealth of the poor the needy and the most humble .

  4. great job Canada maybe with this example people will start facing the real issue in society and focus in their freedom to live better, rather then this other ways stagnant life style of hate and intolerance. when one of us suffers we all become lesser people but when everyone is free from oppression we can rest all live a fuller life, that’s why we need to love each other, for it will give us character and in turn wisdom and brothers to confront and defeat the largest obstacles in life.

    1. it highlights a disparity between his generalized attitude towards certain things and a wide gap towards tolerance of other things. what he posted online is what he posted online, APTN is not having an opinion or saying anything about it. would you rather not know? what else would you rather not know, then?

  5. I really don’t think his sexual preference is what is of concern here, its what he posted for the world to see about my race that concerned me. I don’t care if he is straight or gay we have to not point at his sexual preference. We have to show him that racism is wrong, that hate crimes are wrong.

  6. so many aboriginal men and women missing, I believe there should be a much further investigation into the comments Boake made.

  7. This is a sad reality we live in, racism is detrimental to our society and to our country. This could be, and should be, a pivotal point in abolishing racism. Racism is not a joke and shouldn’t be swept under the rug, I am and always will be a patriot, as well a proud Native of Canada. I am a firm believer of “Positive In gives Positive Out” this is a time for us Canadians to put an end to Racism

  8. How hurtful to First Nations across North America … if our ancestors had the same mindset when the Europeans arrived, Millions of “Indians” would still be populating our land. Past, present and future generations are still, and will still feel the anguish caused by the forced assimilation of our previous generations.

  9. This jerk should at the very least be charged with hate speech toward a group of people. Don`t wait until he acts on that hate & racism.

  10. Disgusting. I guess you cannot educate everyone on how federal transfers really work. They just go on believing a 2nd or 3rd generation definition of “Indian” handed down from grandparents and parents, sad.

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