JUSTICE IS ELUSIVE T

here is a deep sense of betrayal among the indigenous people of Val-d’Or, and beyond.

For more than a year, Montreal police investigated allegations that indigenous women were abused by officers from the Sûreté du Québec. They handed prosecutors 37 files, involving 31 complainants and 28 officers, six of them suspended from the Val-d’Or detachment. Friday, it was confirmed that no charges will be laid in relation to incidents first brought to light by Radio-Canada.

Two retired officers face charges for sexual offences alleged to have occurred in Schefferville in the 1990s. And there are more cases from elsewhere in Quebec still being examined. But in Val-d’Or, the criminal case is closed.

It’s not that the victims weren’t sincere or that abuse didn’t happen. On the contrary, an independent observer appointed to monitor the investigation maintains the complaints were genuine. The prosecutors said likewise. And it’s not as if the police investigators failed to do their work properly. The observer, Université Laval law professor Fannie Lafontaine, appointed in response to concerns about police investigating police, called them thorough and impartial.

But when it came to deciding whether evidence collected met the standards required by the courts, the answer was no.

In many cases, the complainants were unable to positively identify their assailants.

This may be the only fair result in a society where the legal system is based on the presumption of innocence and proof beyond a reasonable doubt. But it’s a result that creates anguish and raises many questions, among them about the accountability of police and the limits of the justice system to meet victims’ expectations, especially in sexual assault cases.

Most of all, these events raise questions about systemic problems between police and aboriginal communities. Too often, a lack of understanding by authorities and racist attitudes breed mistrust. The Quebec government says the federal Inquiry on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women will examine this troubled relationship. But the federal inquiry will look at patterns on a national scale. That is important work, but meanwhile in Val-d’Or, there is an urgent need for education and reconciliation after this painful episode.

It was encouraging Friday that the SQ promised measures to bolster the confidence of indigenous communities, and to examine whether there is sufficient evidence for disciplinary proceedings. Lafontaine is also suggesting there be a specific complaints process for aboriginal people who say they were mistreated by police.

The criminal case in Val-d’Or may indeed be closed. But the work of healing the rifts is only just beginning.