Cowboys and Indians: The J.J. Harper Story, directed by Norma Bailey for Canadian Broadcasting Company Television, is an intense docudrama of a celebrated murder of a First Nations executive director during 1988 on a street in Winnepeg, Manitoba, where the filming takes place. As the true events are told, John Joseph (played by Adam Beach) and his brother Harry Wood (played by Eric Schweig) decide to leave a bar in Winnepeg and head for home. Instead of returning home by car with his brother, J.J. prefers to walk. But at that moment, three teen joyriders take possession of a police car, resulting in a chase in which the three escape, but one officer, Robert Cross (played by Currie Graham) accosts J.J. in the belief that he is leaving the scene of the crime. When J.J. objects to being asked to present his identification, a scuffle ensues, and J.J. is shot dead. The police then try to cover up the incident so as not to reflect badly on the force, which had been implicated in a fatal incident involving a Native Canadian, Helen Betty Osbourne, in 1971. Harry, upset over the murder, files a complaint for an inquest and hires Harvey Pollock (played by Jack Blum) to serve as his attorney at the inquest, but the presiding magistrate rules that the death was accidental. James then consults with elders at the Northern Lakes Tribal Council and decides that their delegate to the Canadian Parliament should demand a government inquiry on a pattern of mistreatment of the native population. A sensational magazine story about the incident also arouses nervousness within the police department. The inquiry is headed by another Native Canadian as well as someone sympathetic to the plight of the environment in which native peoples live in fear of the police. During the inquiry, contradictions, changes in testimony, and ultimately a suicide of a top police official occur. The inquiry (which lasted two years and involved testimony from more than one thousand persons across the entire country) concludes with a lengthy report, linking the history of racism directed at Native Canadians with the case of J.J. Harper and Helen Betty Osbourne. The film ends with titles, indicating the fate of some of the principals involved and statistics indicating that native peoples still are incarcerated far above their percent of the population. Cross, for instance, was demoted in rank, then left the police force, and finally died of alcoholism in 1990. Although most Americans are unaware of the incident, which certainly resonates with the experience of many Native Americans, they can learn more by reading the book by Winnepeg journalist Gordon Sinclair on which the film was based and by viewing the Encore cable channel, which scheduled screenings in 2006. MH
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