A large wooden sign welcomes visitors to Burns Lake in northern B.C. Photo: Kathleen Martens/APTN News
A well-respected 69-year-old Lake Babine First Nation Elder and mother of six says an RCMP officer in Burns Lake, B.C. handcuffed her, put her in the back of his cruiser and wrote her a ticket for littering.
Irene Alec said on Nov. 8, while waiting for her daughter in downtown Burns Lake, she saw a bag on the ground.
“There was a green bag in front of a vehicle. I just picked it up and put it on the other side so somebody would see it because if I didn’t move it, someone could have run over it,” Alec told APTN News.
Alec said an RCMP vehicle then pulled up beside her and the officer asked if she littered.
She said she replied, “No I didn’t, I just picked up that bag, I didn’t look in it and moved it so somebody will see it and pick it up.”
Alec said she walked across the street and the officer got out of his vehicle and grabbed her by the arm, put her hands behind her back and handcuffed her.
“He said ‘I’m charging you for littering,’” Alec said. “I said ‘I didn’t do anything, it wasn’t my garbage.’ The cop told me, ‘When you pick up garbage, it’s your garbage.’
“I felt embarrassed. I felt this small because a lot of people were driving by and saw me and I never got arrested by a cop in my life, I have a clean record, it just shook me right up,” she added.
She alleged the officer then put her in the back of his police cruiser for about 15 minutes and wrote her a $115 dollar ticket for littering.
“He said if you throw that ticket away, you’re going to get another charge,” added Alec.
Alec said when she was let go, she went straight to the local court house up the road to inform the staff of what just happened.
“My whole body was just shaking and the court worker was telling me to breathe. I was really upset. I always pick up garbage and bottles. I am just trying to keep Canada clean, is this what I get?” said Alec.
Shortly after the incident, Shannon Alec, Irene’s daughter, made a TikTok video of Irene explaining the interaction she had with the RCMP officer. The post has since been viewed more than 136,000 times.
“When my family and friends saw the video on social media, everyone was so upset, everyone knows my mom. She is being groomed to receive a hereditary chief name, she’s a wonderful person, she teaches our language, she teaches beadwork, she feeds people on the streets and donates them clothes and rescues animals,” said Shannon.
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Babine First Nation is adjacent to Burns Lake and located in central B.C.
Irene said she’s a day-school survivor who attended the former Immaculata Day School in Burns Lake.
To add to Irene’s stress, the family said an RCMP vehicle parked outside of her house for a half hour following the incident.
“She closed all the curtains, she locked all the doors, they didn’t come to the house or say anything to her, they just sat outsider her house. She was too scared to go look and see if it was that same officer. She was home alone, she was just terrified,” added Shannon.
“After I posted that TikTok video, I received so many messages from other people in the community telling me that same RCMP officer arrested them and roughed them up too and he needs to be stopped,” said Shannon.
Shannon said she doesn’t understand why the officer behaved this way towards her mom when he was so helpful with a recent missing person’s case earlier in the summer.
“He was so nice, so respectful, he was so on the ball and very compassionate and wonderful when this young girl was missing. I was just shocked he was behaving like that,” said Shannon.
The Alec family has since met with the Burns Lake RCMP detachment and was told the incident, including the ticket that was issued to Irene, is under review.
According to the family, Lake Babine Nation leadership have also spoken with the detachment and shared their concerns.
“I would just like an official apology from the RCMP and my mom just wants to be heard,” said Shannon.
After the initial incident and a police vehicle outside of her house, Alec said she left home to get away from the stress and be safe with family at a potlach.
According to a statement from the RCMP, “detachment leadership has been engaged and offered an apology for how this interaction affected her. A full review is underway and until that review is completed it would be premature to conclude exactly what occurred during the interaction and whether remedial action is required.”
