Charges dropped against prominent northern Alberta First Nations Chief

The Crown withdrew the charges of resisting arrest and assaulting police against Chief Allen Adam in a Fort McMurray court today.

Adam was stopped in March for an expired plate and a 12-minute video shows him yelling profanities at RCMP officers before he was violently tackled to the ground and punched in the head by a responding Mountie.  The province’s police watchdog is now investigating and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the arrest shocking.

In a media briefing today Adam called on Canada to consider cross-cultural police training as well as setting up Indigenous police forces with full authority.