Innocence upheld in B.C. court

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A hereditary chief of the west coast Gedumden nation has had her people's traditions as well as her innocence upheld in a recent British Columbia court decision.

Just before Christmas, 1984, Chief Mabel Forsythe and her daughter Nancy were wrongly accused of shoplifting and searched in public on the main street of Smither, B.C.

It was later proven that Chief Forsythe and her daughter had not been involved in the shoplifting of a SONY Walkman from a store in the tiny central B.C. town.

Subsequently, B.C. county Judge Harry Boyle ordered that an RCMP officer and a store clerk involved in the false accusation pay Chief Forsythe $2,000 and her daughter $400.

Of the $2,000 ordered paid to Chief Forsythe, half went to pay for the Wolf clan feast that she had to give to absolve herself of the disgrace of her honor.

After being accused of shoplifting by the clerk (who could not even be sure that another Indian woman whom he had only seen from behind had taken the Walkman), Chief Forsythe and her daughter were taken home by RCMP Constable P.A. Harrish, where he questioned yet another daughter about the supposed shoplifting.

When Const. Harrish realized that the accusation was groundless, she apologized for the incident and left Chief Forsythe's home.

"There is nothing to contradict the evidence that the hurt and embarrassment lasted for months and there is nothing to contradict the sense of same brought upon Mrs. Forsythe and her daughter," said Judge Boyle in his judgement in the matter.

The RCMP is to pay $1,750 of the award to Chief Forsythe and her daughter and the clerk and his employer will have to pay $1,250.