He had risen and was about to be released when he heard piercing screams from the women’s detention center down the aisle. “My baby! Help my baby! My baby!” Bird said loud noises were common in detention cells, but that these repeated calls were particularly urgent and clear. “Boy, this girl is screaming. She wanted her baby,” Bird recalled in a recent interview. Bird believes the woman was Kyla Frenchman, asking police to check on her 13-month-old son, Tanner. Police did not drive back five minutes to check Tanner until it was too late. Tanner’s father, Kaij Brass, was arrested on the spot and charged with second-degree murder. The Frenchwoman said she begged officers in the cells to rescue Tanner, but Byrd is now the first person to publicly say he heard these cries for help. Bird said he speaks openly despite any “problems” it may cause him. He said he consulted an elder, who told him that it was important for the truth to come out. Chris ‘Jimmy’ Bird says he heard a woman begging police to check on her baby while he was in police cells in Prince Albert. He now believes the woman was Kyla Frenchman. (Jason Warick / CBC) CBC News escorted Byrd to the police station and received a written record of his imprisonment. The document confirms that Bird and Frenchman were both in the cells on the morning of February 10th. “It is good that there is a witness who can confirm what he said. It is important for the public to know what happened,” said French lawyer Eleanore Sunchild. “She just wanted her baby to be safe, like any mother, and now we have a witness to verify it,” said Bobby Cameron, head of the Federation of Indigenous Peoples (FSIN), which represents the First Saskatchewan Nation. CBC News also interviewed nearly a dozen current and former Prince Albert police officers, members of the police commissioners’ council and other officials last month. Most agreed to speak anonymously, as they were not authorized to discuss ongoing inquiries or private meetings. They raise new questions about the Baby Tanner case and more generally about Prince Albert’s Police Service and its leadership. They have reiterated previous calls for change to start from the top, starting with the removal of Chief Jon Bergen. “This woman was treated differently because she was the first nation. They did not believe her,” Cameron said in early March. “We demand change and we demand it today.” Bergen turned down an interview request for this story. But speaking to the media earlier this year after Tanner’s death, Bergen said he appreciated his relationship with the indigenous community and all residents. “The message is taken loud and clear, and we recognize that we have a lot of work to do to rebuild trust and confidence in the community,” Bergen said. “We are committed to doing that.” The deputy chief of police, Prince Albert Farica Prince, was interviewed on behalf of Bergen. Prince said he knew nothing about questioning Bergen’s ability to lead. “I have not seen, experienced or received any concerns that would adversely affect my confidence in Police Chief Jonathan Bergen to lead our organization,” he said. Prince declined to comment on any details of the Baby Tanner case or specific criticisms leveled at Bergen, citing an ongoing investigation by the Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission (PCC). He also said he was concerned about officers sharing information with the media. “I hope everyone understands that interfering in an investigation is not only against the Police Act, but also potentially criminal,” Prince said. He said now is the time for the police to work together as a team to focus on the safety and well-being of the community.
The mother pleaded with the officers
In an interview in March, the Frenchman said that she and Tanner lived as prisoners in their house on 23rd Street. The Frenchwoman said she was not allowed to use a telephone or computer, leave the house alone or go to the doctor Tanner. “He said that if I left, the baby and I would leave, we would be dead,” he said. “He forced me to stay. I had to put up with it.” But the Frenchman said that on the night of February 9, with Tanner just over a year old, he told Brass he wanted to leave. “I decided to pack my things. I put on my jacket and hat,” he said. He said he threw her out of the building and “told me to get off the property and go die.” Kyla Frenchman says she has repeatedly told Prince Albert’s police that her baby was in danger in the hours before 13-month-old Tanner Brass died. The boy’s father has been charged with second-degree murder. (Jason Warick / CBC) A Frenchwoman wandered the streets in the bitter cold and darkness, knocking on doors until someone let her use the phone to call the police. He said two police officers arrived and told them that the baby inside was in danger. The Frenchman, a member of the Thunderchild First Nation, said police accused her of being drunk, handcuffed her and took her to police cells without entering the suite to check on Tanner. The Frenchwoman said that once in the detention cells, she asked the officers and staff to check on her baby. He was released hours later and arrived home to watch a police film all over the yard. Police told her Tanner was dead. She collapsed crying.
“Why didn’t the cops come earlier?”: Bird
An officer involved in the case and two other people told CBC News that it was not the Frenchman’s repeated calls that brought police back to the basement suite later that day – it was Bras himself who called them. Bras’s mother, Rubin Charles, said Bras called her minutes before police arrived. Karolos initially thought that her son wanted to wish her happy birthday, but her mood changed quickly. “He said, ‘The cops are coming and I have to deal with what I’m done,’” Charles said in an interview. After the call from her son, Charles immediately called Jodi Alert, the manager of the property. “[Brass] “He called her and said she had done something,” Elert said. “He told her he called the police and was on his way. He was very worried. “She felt that something was wrong with the baby.” Elert drove home and said it was “not at all shocking” to see the police, but that she never imagined how serious the situation was. The house in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where police found 13-month-old Tanner dead and arrested his father, Kaij Brass. (Jason Warick / CBC) In the two years or so since Brass and Frenchman moved there, Ehlert has received more than half a dozen complaints about Brass from neighbors or those living in the other suites of the house. “I felt very controlled. I almost never saw Kyla. She almost always answered the door. She was very quiet, she never had eye contact,” Ehlert said. “He was always right in his mind.” Neighbors said Brass often insulted them or turned to them and snorted while lifting weights in the yard. These neighbors include Chris “Jimmy” Bird, who lives next door to the multi-unit rental house. Bird was released from police cells on the morning of February 10. He said he walked home in time to see Brass, wearing only pajamas and handcuffs, being handcuffed in the yard by police. An officer confirmed the physical description and clothing described by Bird. “He looked at me and spat,” Byrd said. Bird continued to watch as more police patrols, an ambulance and other emergency vehicles lined the road. When the Frenchwoman later arrived at the spot, but before the police announced the news, she saw Bird in the yard. Bird said the Frenchman asked him what was going on and where her baby was. Bird said he then realized it was the Frenchman’s voice he had heard in the cells. Byrd had just seen the emergency services remove a stretcher from the house, but told the Frenchman to go and ask the police. “Why didn’t the police come earlier? Why did they leave the baby in there? They made a mistake arresting this lady [Frenchman] “Instead,” Byrd said. Several days later, with the crime scene cleared, Elert opened the suite for FSIN officials. They cleaned it up and brought an elder to do a ceremony for Tanner’s spirit. FSIN has helped the Frenchman, who now lives in Saskatoon. Charles, Brass’s mother, said she often left money, diapers or food for Tanner. He said there was no indication that the Frenchman was unhappy. Tanner Brass’s grandmother, Rubin Charles, made this necklace with his fingerprint after his death 13 months earlier this year. Tanner’s father, Kaij Brass, has been charged with second-degree murder. (Submitted by Rubin Charles) Charles recently made a pendant that bore Tanner’s fingerprint on one side and his name on the other. He said things could have turned out better for everyone if Prince Albert’s police had entered the suite when the Frenchman begged them. “I have a hard time coping with the loss of my grandson and losing my son from the system,” Charles said. “I miss them so much.” Brass’s lawyer, Rebecca Crookshanks, said she had no comment on the case at this time, as she was still in court.
Critics have called for the police chief to be fired
In early March, the FSIN, the Grand Council of Prince Albert and others demanded the immediate dismissal of Bergen and all the officers who ignored the Frenchman’s appeals. “This mother was detained against her will and her baby paid the ultimate price for their negligence,” said Thunderchild First Nation leader James Snakeskin. “Baby Tanner did not even have the opportunity to grow up and live a beautiful life. This baby’s death affected not only Thunderchild, but many other First Nations. This is just racism.” Bergen initially said he would wait for the results of the investigation by the Public Complaints Commission before taking any action. But he immediately ruled out the two junior officers who arrested the Frenchman for the first time, saying he had seen the PCC’s preliminary findings. One day after that, …
