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Results: 1 - 4 of 4
View Gary Vidal Profile
CPC (SK)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Anandasangaree said this morning that a number of the people sitting on this committee today are members of INAN. Over the last several months, we've been doing a study on the government's response to COVID-19, and one of the things we've talked about is the supports for indigenous people who do not live on reserves, those who live in urban centres. We've done a bunch of discussion around the work of the National Association of Friendship Centres and some other groups that serve urban indigenous populations.
In that context, my question is for Madame Michel.
Would you agree that, in the context of that percentage of indigenous people living off reserve in urban centres, declaring first nation policing as an essential service may not represent the needs of that population as well as it would for some of the people who live out in the reserve settings?
Viviane Michel
View Viviane Michel Profile
Viviane Michel
2020-07-24 14:27
Look, I totally agree, but we still need to improve the judicial system. Police forces play a key role in racial profiling, in arresting people, in abusing their authority.
The police are doing things that are truly unacceptable. For example, in Montreal, after a long negotiation with a counsellor on site, a woman in psychological distress finally agreed to call an ambulance because she was in the midst of a suicidal crisis. So we called 911. However, 17 police officers and the dog squad were sent. That is crazy! That is really crazy! It was a woman in psychological distress; it was not a woman threatening to kill someone. I think this situation is really a concrete example of racism, discrimination and racial profiling.
There is much to be done to improve the police system, especially in cases like this. The Armony report says that in big cities, aboriginal women are stopped 11 times more often than white women. For no reason, just because they have the profile of aboriginal women. Is that not systemic discrimination and racism? It is blatant.
We can train these people, but I think that if we do not want to be a good police officer and protect citizens, we have to do something else for a living. Our aboriginal women need protection. Our women need to be safe, to be able to walk around in safety, which is not the case, all around, whether inside or outside.
I think Mr. Picard is going to talk to you about the differences between aboriginal police officers and city police officers, because there’s a big gap in funding. So I’m not going to talk about that; rather, I’m going to talk about the impact this has on aboriginal women.
View Gary Vidal Profile
CPC (SK)
Thank you, Madame Michel.
I'm going to follow up with another question for you. I think there's a great difference as well between the needs of indigenous women in very large centres and those in some of the small and medium-sized communities throughout Quebec, and also Canada. Sometimes we forget the realities of some of the smaller urban centres. Again, they don't fall in that on-reserve category, but they're not in the large cities either.
Would you speak to some of the solutions that you maybe would suggest for people who live in those small and medium-sized communities as well?
Viviane Michel
View Viviane Michel Profile
Viviane Michel
2020-07-24 14:30
I’d be happy to tell you about it. You may know that at Quebec Native Women, we do a lot of public education. For example, the word "reserve" has not been around for decades; we now talk about the "community,” and I am simply telling you this to give you this wonderful lesson. It is a community.
Within the communities, there is obviously a great deal to be done. In cases of conjugal violence, for example, we are very much being asked to denounce it. One of the problems we can encounter in cases of conjugal violence or family violence is that there are times when the aboriginal police officer is the aggressor’s brother. We all know each other in a community. You can see where that can lead us.
We don’t have a lot of police officers. I know Mr. Picard will tell you all about it. At the same time, the ties of kinship and acquaintance are very strong. Everybody knows each other, and sometimes, the victim doesn’t even want to file a complaint because the police officer is the brother of her attacker, of her husband and so on. These are difficulties that are found within communities. Moreover, in Quebec, we have 54 communities, and not all of them have their own aboriginal police force.
Recently, I saw a report from a Mohawk nation that had a Mohawk police force. According to that report, for years, there were no deaths, no killings committed by them in their community. I think that’s a good example that shows—
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