An elderly woman complained that police dragged her from bed, threw her in jail, then forced her to walk home in her nightgown.
A 10-year-old girl said officers broke her arm because she "got in the way."
Inmates at RCMP holding cells said they could shower only once a week, and became infected with scabies.
After hearing these and many other stories, a $2.8-million investigation into Saskatchewan's justice system reported yesterday that anti-native racism exists in the police system and contributes to an environment of mistrust.
Among its 122 recommendations were that an agency be established to handle complaints against police and that police stations have aboriginal liaison officers.
The investigation was launched in late 2001, amid international furor over so-called "starlight tours."
These involved police allegedly abandoning native men on the outskirts of Saskatoon in the deadly cold.
The Commission on First Nations and Métis Peoples and Justice Reform talked to aboriginal people over the past two years. As the five commissioners travelled across the province, however, they discovered that the problem of police abuse against natives went far beyond the city limits of Saskatoon.
"The abuse seems to be widespread," commission chairman Wilton Littlechild said.
"When we talked with the police, they said they're frustrated by the number of false allegations. In their view, it's not so common. But hearing all those stories, my personal opinion and belief is that it is widespread."
Another commissioner suggested that a national study might find similar complaints in other provinces. "What surprised me is that it happens all over, and probably across the country," said Joe Quewezance, former chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council.
The report suggests that an independent provincial investigation agency be established to handle allegations of police abuse and excessive force.
It also recommends using video equipment to monitor officers' actions, and hiring aboriginal liaison workers to staff police stations and detachments.
The other recommendations take a broader look at the problems of aboriginals in the justice system. Many focus on ways of keeping aboriginals from breaking the law, and ways of handling native offenders that might circumvent police and courts.
"These are themes we wholeheartedly endorse and adopt," Saskatchewan Justice Minister Frank Quennell said.
He added that it's too early to say which recommendations will be implemented, however, and his cash-strapped NDP government has only $200,000 in this year's budget for responses to the commission.
The province will give a more detailed response in "early 2005," he said.
Spokesmen for the RCMP and the Saskatoon Police Service said they need time to read the hefty two-volume report before making statements.
The province's largest native organization, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, also declined to comment.
Mr. Littlechild said the native chiefs had been hoping the report would recommend a separate justice system for status Indian bands.
Although he's aware that recommendations from previous reports haven't been implemented, the lawyer and former MP said he hopes his team collected enough evidence to provoke action.
A few of the worst stories were presented to the commission in a report from Métis Family and Community Justice Services, Inc.
"Many Métis community members raised allegations of police abuse of authority and excessive use of force," the report says, and offered some examples from Northern Saskatchewan.
"Police assaulted a 10-year-old girl and broke her arm. The police were attempting to get access to her parents and she 'got in the way.'."
The report said a band elder was taken into custody in her nightgown, and later "released and left to find her own way home."
The report also said conditions in some northern jail cells are so bad that inmates shower only once a week and some developed scabies. Most of the people put in these cells are native.
Other stories came from meetings with natives in 19 communities around the province.
A speaker in the northerly community of Black Lake described a night in 2000 when her drunken daughter encountered two officers.
"She kind of resisted a little bit," the speaker said. "They smashed her right into the frozen ground, head first, smashed her nose."
A police investigation gave little comfort.
"They did an investigation. You know what they call it? Police technique. Police technique applied to her. If that's police technique, I'm afraid of them."
The report concluded that the province's police and aboriginals no longer trust each other.
"The commission has concluded that racism in police services does exist and is a major contributor to the environment of mistrust and misunderstanding that exists in Saskatchewan," the report states.
Among the recommendations for combatting racism are better screening of police recruits, improved training and more hiring of aboriginal officers.
"We want to return justice to the aboriginal community," Mr. Littlechild said at a press conference in Saskatoon. "Future generations cannot afford the social or financial consequences of the status quo."
The full report is available at www.justicereformcomm.sk.ca.