Richard Manuel's white pickup truck is seen in this video screen grab from June 2022. Photo: APTN file
A man who hit people marching to commemorate residential school survivors with his pickup truck two years ago in Mission, B.C., has been found guilty of dangerous driving.
Richard Albert Manuel, who was 77 at the time, was accused of striking four people on June 4, 2022, as the procession full of families made its way to the former site of St. Mary’s Residential School.
Robert Jago, who participated and filmed the march, posted the judge’s decision on social media Monday: “Guilty!!! Just got the verdict for the residential school attack driver. The guy that tried to run us down. Guilty.”
GUILTY! https://t.co/8CqQEh7fT4 pic.twitter.com/F6h7mm1sFx
— Robert Jago (@rjjago) September 23, 2024
Jago, a member of Kwantlen First Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe in B.C., said in an interview with APTN News Tuesday that B.C. provincial court Judge Edna Ritchie found racism was a factor in Manuel’s actions.
“[She] confirmed that it was racially motivated,” Jago said. “He was shouting racial slurs, she confirmed that. She didn’t find his story credible.”
Manuel left the scene and turned himself in to police later. He pleaded not guilty and went to trial in March.
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Five people reportedly hit by truck during residential school march
The judge felt Manuel hit two of the people by accident, said Jago, who witnessed Manuel’s actions and testified at the trial.
“It was by accident while he was being reckless,” Jago noted.
He said the judge’s decision comes at a time of heightened emotions for Indigenous Peoples – less than a week before Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 30 – officially known as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
More than 100 people took part in the March for Recognition for Residential Schools organized by the Crazy Indian Brotherhood activist group, which was slowly walking on Lougheed Highway when Manuel drove onto the shoulder and into the group.
A sentencing hearing for Manuel, who faces a maximum penalty of two years less a day in jail, has not yet been set.
