“Some of those people were cops”: Examining the normalization and enabling of police violence perpetrated against Indigenous peoples in Canada

Throughout Canada's enduring history of systemic oppression and discriminatory policies, colonial violence against Indigenous peoples has remained a persistent reality. This violence is not limited to periods of protest—where it has been researched and documented—but is also embedded in the everyday or “routine” practices of law enforcement. One particularly egregious example is the so-called “starlight tours”, wherein police officers have been reported to forcibly remove Indigenous individuals, frequently men, and abandon them on the outskirts of cities in subzero temperatures at night. When perpetrated by a state agent, such as a police officer, such violence often does not result in proportional legal or disciplinary consequences. Despite the Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) Canada's Residential Schools: Reconciliation (Vol. 6). Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press) and its subsequent Calls to Action (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action . Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press), which advocate for the dismantling of colonial institutions as a pathway to reconciliation, evidence from mainstream media continues to document patterns of systemic and organizational violence against Indigenous peoples by law enforcement. These ongoing accounts highlight a failure to address the structural roots of such violence. Through a thematic content analysis of Canadian news coverage between January 2015 and December 2024, this study identifies key themes in the lived experiences of police-perpetrated violence and identifies who gets to speak about, and frame, this violence. We offer recommendations aimed at ensuring that policy reforms meaningfully incorporate Indigenous voices—not merely as procedural formality, but as a substantive step toward transparency, accountability, and transformative justice in policing practices.