https://www.nextgenerationreforestation.com/letter-for-latjor

A Letter for Latjor 
May 25, 2022 

To Police Chief Mark Neufeld and Mayor Jyoti Gondek, 

May 25th, 2022 would have been Latjor Tuel’s 42nd Birthday. 

We, representatives of Next Generation Reforestation, friends and colleagues of Latjor Tuel, and other members of the greater treeplanting community, bring this letter to you. We write this with permission of Nyalinglat, Latjor’s daughter, on Treaty 8 territory.  The traditional and present territories of Duncan First Nation, Horse Lake First Nation and Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation.  

We write for three reasons:

First, in support of Latjor’s family, in expressing that Lajor Tuel mattered, was loved and important member of our community. 

Second, is to offer a small step of healing for the people who worked beside him and cared for him. 

Third, we add our voices to the symphony of others calling for police reform.

• We are advocating for mental health or social work professionals to be included in crisis response teams as the default. And, for officers to approach calls in a human-centred way, with skills to assess and give attention to a person’s mental state.
• We also urge a different philosophy of training for responding officers’ - one that acknowledges the bodily sensation of fear experienced, most often in white bodies, when encountering racialized individuals and persons experiencing or showing signs of mental health distress.

Complete Letter at https://www.nextgenerationreforestation.com/letter-for-latjor

Participate in a study with the University of Lethbridge - Black Youth’s interactions and experiences with police in Calgary, Lethbridge, Brooks & Medicine Hat. with Ibrahim Turay, Ph.D. Candidate