Compromise in air for premier, First Nations’ meeting
After a week that saw Quebec’s government and its indigenous leaders clash over allegations of police brutality, expect both groups to strike a much more conciliatory tone when they meet in Montreal Wednesday.
In the wake of last month’s Radio-Canada report alleging Sûreté du Québec officers sexually abused women in Val-d’Or without facing disciplinary action, dozens of aboriginal leaders met last week and issued a list of demands to Premier Philippe Couillard. Namely, they wanted an immediate meeting with Couillard and assurances that a police investigation into the eight SQ officers in question will be overseen by an independent body.
Cree leader Matthew Coon Come went so far as to insist aboriginal law enforcement be brought in to oversee the Montreal police’s investigation of the officers.
But with the meeting approaching, there appears to be a willingness from the Cree and other First Nations to compromise.
“The objective is to have an independent observer (of the investigation), whether it’s aboriginal or not, I don’t think that’s the most important thing,” said Abel Bosum, a senior adviser to the Council of the Crees. “What’s important is that the observer has credibility with the First Nations.”
On Tuesday, Couillard told reporters he will appoint a woman to act as civilian observer of the police investigation and that he’d narrowed the list of candidates to “two or three” people. Couillard could name his appointment as early as Wednesday morning, after his meeting with Quebec’s Assembly of First Nations chiefs at the Delta Hotel downtown.
One Liberal source said longserving Aboriginal Affairs Minister Geoffrey Kelley has been working behind the scenes with the AFN to ensure that both sides can emerge from Wednesday’s meeting with a satisfactory outcome. The source said Kelley and AFN’s Quebec regional chief, Ghislain Picard, speak regularly and both are approaching the sit down with a set of solutions in mind.
The most critical outcome, for the Liberals, will be to establish a set of parameters to the police investigation that will ensure public oversight.
Bosum says Wednesday’s negotiations will boil down to two short-term goals and one “medium-term” objective.
The most pressing demand is that the province set aside resources to protect the women who went public with allegations of police abuse in Val-d’Or. This protection, he said, should be extended to any future complainant against the police and would ideally be provided alongside the workers at Val-d’Or’s Native Friendship Centre.
The group also wants Couillard’s personal guarantee that the investigation will be independent, transparent and that there will be no preferential treatment afforded to the SQ officers.
Finally, the group wants to see a future inquiry that looks into the root of the broken relationship between the SQ and Quebec’s indigenous population.
“The idea is to come up with some solutions that could affect change in legislation, policy and the relationship between First Nations people, the SQ and the government of Quebec,” said Bosum.
Bosum is a veteran Cree negotiator and chief, who participated in negotiations that led to the 2002 Paix des Braves agreement and a slew of other accords between Quebec, Canada and the James Bay Cree. The Council of the Crees have negotiated 75 agreements with the government since the 1970s and, in doing so, have secured unprecedented levels of self-government and sovereignty. Their presence at the meeting Wednesday is crucial to its success.
“These things work best when you bring a solution to the table,” Bosum told the Montreal Gazette. “Many negotiations go through an exercise of arguing and grandstanding and so forth but the fastest way to get a solution is to bring a solution to the table. This helps open up the options that can be used.
“If there’s a commitment from the premier to do an inquiry, it’s important that that’s announced,” said Bosum. “That assures people that there’s a political will to do something. Of course, you have to define what will be the mandate of that inquiry. These are things that can be done but it begins with the political will.”
Sources close to both groups involved in Wednesday’s meeting have suggested that Michèle Audette is on Couillard’s shortlist. Audette is the former head of the Native Women’s Association of Canada and ran for the federal Liberals in last month’s election.
Though Audette has expressed public support for the women who came forward, she’s also been careful to emphasize that there are many good police working alongside First Nations. Years before it became a national issue, Audette led the campaign for a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women. A representative for Audette would not confirm the rumour that she’s being considered to oversee the police probe.