Racism cited in angler attacks

[Spiel]

Racism cited in angler attacks

 

Georgina

Jan 16, 2008

yorkregion.com

 

Chinese community groups have asked the Crown attorney to consider “extensive evidence” that racism motivated a series of attacks on recreational angler last summer.

 

So far, York Regional Police have laid charges in five of six alleged assaults, which mostly involved Asian Canadians fishing in Lake Simcoe.

 

The organizations hope to provide victim impact statements if any of the three accused are convicted.

 

If a judge decides racism was a factor, it might mean the difference between a conditional sentence and jail, said lawyer Peter Lindsay.

 

“The main thing is that if a crime was motivated by hate, we want to send the message that this sort of crime won’t be tolerated,” said Lindsay, who represents the community groups.

 

“We can’t allow people pushing other people into rivers in the middle of the night, just because they’re Asian.”

 

A pretrial hearing for two accused in Newmarket was postponed yesterday because a court officer had a death in the family.

 

Nicholas Perry, 19, and Trevor Middleton, 20, are charged with assault.

 

They’re accused of pushing two anglers into Lake Simcoe in the early hours of Sept. 16.

 

That some locals have been calling this “nipper tipping” – a variation on cow tipping, using a derogatory slang word for Asians – seems to prove hate was a factor, lawyer and activist Avvy Go said.

 

“The phrase ... suggests they are targeting certain fishermen because of their race,” she said, adding it’s part of a pattern rather than isolated incidents.

 

The Ontario Human Rights Commission ended the first phase of its inquiry into the attacks last month.

 

Middleton is also charged with criminal negligence, after he allegedly ran a car of anglers off the road on the same night, leaving one man in a coma.

 

The father of the victim, Shayne Berwick, says the four months since that night have been agonizing as he and his wife take turns at the hospital so someone is always at their 23-year-old son’s side.

 

“Sometimes he can open his eyes,” said Colin Berwick.

 

“We think he knows where he is.”

 

Torstar News Service