Residents want sex-assault suspect out of Mcqueen
The majority of independent investigators delving into alleged police misconduct in Canada are white men who are former police officers.
Seven provincial independent investigation units currently look into incidents involving police.
The Canadian Press has found that of the 167 members involved in these units, 111 are former officers or have had a working relationship with police, and 118 of them are men.
Every province but B.C. also provided the number of investigators in their units who identify as a visible minority or person of colour. There are 20.
“It’s very, very biased,” says Ghislain Picard, regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations in Quebec and Labrador. “How can you expect any trust from those cultural minorities and Indigenous Peoples?
“The interaction between the independent bureau and our communities it’s practically non-existent.”
Indigenous people don’t have hope for justice when police investigate themselves, Picard adds, especially after what happened in Val d’or, Que., more than 500 kilometres north of Montreal.
In 2015, there were 38 cases involving complaints by multiple women there against Surete du Quebec officers. Some women claimed they were drugged and sexually assaulted. Montreal police investigated.
In the end, two retired police officers were charged. Both died before their cases finished in court.
At the time, some 2,500 police officers wore red bands while on duty to support their colleagues.
In the wake of the scandal, Quebec’s Bureau of Independent Investigations was created. Picard says creation of a largely white investigative unit made up of former officers has done nothing to repair the relationship.
More than half the unit’s 44 investigators had previous police employment. Four are people of colour but none are Indigenous. It does have an Indigenous liaison.
The agency declined to comment on Picard’s remarks.
The unit was recently tasked with investigating two police shootings of Indigenous people in New Brunswick, which doesn’t have its own independent investigative unit.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has permanent investigators, as well as seconded members from police forces. All 25 members are former law enforcement officers.