Grace Johnson of Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation still reels from PTSD.
“I worry about my safety, my son’s safety all the time,” she says.
The attack that brought it on happened five years ago on the morning of April 15, 2018, when Johnson worked as a support worker at the Campbell River Sobering and Assessment Centre.
She was alone when a white client entered the centre to sober up and later wanted to leave the building for a cigarette. Because the centre has a “no in-and-out” policy, Johnson had to refuse.
“She started saying, ‘You chugs are all alcoholics,'” Johnson claims.
While Johnson was moving the woman’s belongings outside the centre, the woman punched her in the head. Johnson called the local RCMP detachment, but the attack didn’t stop.
“She started yelling racist remarks,” recalls Johnson.
Johnson says she was left with a mild concussion as well as PTSD, which she deals with to this day. The woman was charged with assault. But Johnson says her attempts to have the charges recorded as a hate crime by victims services were rebuffed.
“I’m like, ‘Why is she only charged with assault? It was a hate crime.’ That emotionally and mentally still affects me today.”
Read the full article in the National Observer.
