Indigenous groups in Quebec demand resignation of CAQ MNA who dismissed alleged police abuse

Indigenous groups — in‐ cluding the Assembly of First Nations QuebecLabrador and the Val-d'Or Native Friendship Centre — want a Coalition Avenir Québec MNA to resign af‐ ter he suggested numerous Indigenous women lied about being sexually as‐ saulted by police officers.

Ghislain Picard, the organi‐ zation's chief, says the only "honourable" thing Pierre Du‐ four can do is resign as the Member of the National As‐ sembly for Abitibi-Est after he made "disgraceful" com‐ ments about a Radio-Canada report alleging police abuse and about the conclusions of a public inquiry that followed the report.

"I think there are (mem‐ bers of the legislature) or min‐ isters who have been asked to resign for less," Picard said in a phone interview on Mon‐ day.

Picard also called Dufour's comments "inexcusable" and said people need to be able to have a minimum of faith and trust in their elected officials.

"It's precisely because one is an elected official that they need to pay a bit more atten‐ tion to what they say," he said.

Dufour spoke about homelessness at a city council meeting last week in Val d'Or, Que., about 500 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

After discussing the pro‐ grams offered by the provin‐ cial government, Dufour told the council that a 2015 inves‐ tigation by Radio-Canada that looked into physical and sexual assaults of Indigenous women in Val-d'Or by police, had contributed to the prob‐ lem.

The show was "full of lies" and attacked "police officers that were very honest," Du‐ four said, before saying there may have been some crooked police officers in the commu‐ nity 30 years before.

"This report won awards, but it created a split between the police service and the community, which didn't pro‐ tect the police officers after‐ ward," he said.

A 'direct attack' on In‐ digenous women who came forward, says advo‐ cate

Some Indigenous organi‐ zations in Quebec criticized Dufour's comments in a joint statement issued today and endorsed by organizations like Amnesty International.

The Val-d'Or Native Friend‐ ship Centre and its allies said Dufour's comments were unacceptable and that he had failed in his duty as an elected official. They said Dufour should have been more conscious of his influ‐ ence in the community and should have realized that his comments could lead to even more discrimination against Indigenous people.

Édith Cloutier, executive director of the friendship cen‐ tre, called the comments "un‐ acceptable" and "disgraceful."

"It actually creates a social‐ ly tense climate that revives all of those old wounds that we are trying to heal," said Cloutier.

Cloutier says the MNA's comments were a "direct at‐ tack to the truth of Indige‐ nous women" and could also discredit the testimony of the

victims who came forward.

She said she spoke with one of the women who had been interviewed by RadioCanada as part of its 2015 in‐ vestigation.

"[She said] it's like living through post-traumatic syn‐ drome," said Cloutier.

"When we have this type of situation that comes from an elected official that is sup‐ posed to represent everyone, someone that lives in the city, that has been working in the city all his life, well, you expect more."

The Native Women's Asso‐ ciation of Canada (NWAC) is‐ sued a statement Wednes‐ day demanding Dufour's res‐ ignation, saying his com‐ ments "are a slap in the face to Indigenous people across Canada, especially to sur‐ vivors of abuse."

"We cannot tolerate his harmful comments. Calling In‐ digenous women liars, who are survivors of abuse, while we are in the middle of a genocide of Indigenous women, girls and gender di‐ verse peoples is egregious," said NWAC President Carol McBride.

"My heart goes out to any‐ one adversely impacted by his thoughtless words."

'Didn't think through all my words': Dufour

Dufour also criticized the conclusions of a public inquiry called following the broad‐ cast. He said the inquiry, known as the Viens Commis‐ sion, which launched partially in response to the RadioCanada Enquête broadcast, said police were racist against Indigenous people because they ticketed more homeless people.

He said police officers didn't feel supported after the allegations and only did "the strict minimum" at their jobs, he said.

Val d'Or has been served by the Quebec provincial po‐ lice since 2002.

Dufour later posted on Facebook that the comments were made while he was emo‐ tional and he misspoke.

"The situation in Val-d'Or is worrying. This is a sensitive and complex issue," he wrote in the post.

"I expressed myself while emotional and didn't think through all my words."

He also wrote that he's working with the mayor and public security to ensure the safety of all citizens "without exception."

But for Picard, the com‐ ments ring hollow.

"For me, it's kind of a slap in the face to the efforts that we're trying to make to en‐ courage a better understand‐ ing of the situation not just in Val d'Or but across Quebec," he said.

"Pierre Dufour's com‐ ments take us back to 2019, after the apologies [to the First Nations and the Inuit] pronounced by Premier [François] Legault, it just comes to taint these apolo‐ gies."