Harsh truths learned After four weeks of hearings
Testimonials send overwhelming message as local inquiry wraps up
In December 2016, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard approached a podium at the National Assembly flanked by the province’s public health, justice, public security and native affairs ministers.
The provincial government was under pressure after an investigation into allegations that police abused Indigenous women in Vald’Or ended without charges.
What Couillard announced was met with cautious optimism — a $9-million, two-year public inquiry into the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and public services in Quebec.
Known as the Viens Commission, the inquiry held its first public hearings in Val-d’Or last June. On Friday, it completed a combined four weeks of hearings in Montreal.
The public hearings portion of the inquiry will continue until at least the end of 2018, but it’s unlikely further dates will be held in Montreal, a spokesperson said.
It’s estimated there are more than 26,000 people that identify as Indigenous in the greater Montreal area.
Indigenous Peoples are overrepresented both in the city’s homeless population and in Quebec prisons.
Here’s a brief overview of what was said about justice and policing issues in the city during the inquiry’s four weeks at the Palais des Congrès.
INDIGENOUS GROUPS ‘UNDERFUNDED’
Before testifying in mid-February, Vivien Carli, a board member of the First Peoples Justice Centre of Montreal, warned the inquiry she might come off as a bit harsh. But she wanted to paint a realistic picture of the challenges the centre faces.
The centre, she explained, started operating in the city last year with an ambitious mandate. In general, it aims to fill the gaps between Indigenous Peoples living in Montreal and the justice-related services they need access to, she said.
More broadly, its goal is to end the “systemic issues of marginalization, discrimination and victimization of Indigenous Peoples in the justice and correctional system.”
The need for something like it in Montreal was first identified as far back as 2011, Carli said. A similar centre in Toronto, which the inquiry also heard from, has existed since 1990.
“It took a long time for the city of Montreal to recognize, in some way, Indigenous Peoples and put funding toward the network that exists now,” Carli said.
“Interest from the city of Montreal was not there. We are very behind in terms of the development of openness and acceptance of what Indigenous Peoples need.”
The centre survives on small amounts of funding from the city ($30,000), the provincial and federal justice departments and private foundations.
With its budget, it can only afford two full-time co-ordinators and hasn’t been able to hire a director. Volunteer board members spend their time writing funding proposals for “small amounts here and there” instead of focusing on the necessary work, she said.
Though the centre helped 66 people in its first year, Carli said, successfully fulfilling its mandate can feel unreachable.
“It’s almost impossible,” Carli told the inquiry. “We’re set up to fail.”
RELATIONSHIP WITH POLICE CHALLENGING
In 2015, the Montreal police force signed a four-point agreement to improve its relationship with the Indigenous community in the city. At the time, it was described as a historic step.
But testifying before the inquiry, Nakuset, the director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, said the agreement has yielded few results in the three years since.
Many of the same issues that led to it remain. Members of the Montreal Urban Aboriginal Community Strategy Network described how they feel police in the city continue to operate with prejudices and assumptions, using intimidation and over-ticketing, confrontational approaches and unnecessary force when intervening with Indigenous Peoples.
“The people being victimized are used to it, and they don’t think anyone cares,” Nakuset said. “They don’t think anyone is going to fight for them.”
Workers from the Open Door — a west-downtown homeless day centre often frequented by Indigenous Peoples — spoke of their experience with the force.
Though he made a point to mention improvements in recent years, former director Caleb Clark described several instances of police officers openly mocking and abusing Indigenous Peoples, intimidating witnesses and victims, and disregarding requests to file police reports — including in cases of alleged sexual assault.
In 2017 alone, current director David Chapman said, 10 Indigenous women had told the centre they were raped or sexually assaulted. Only three were willing to file a police report, he said.
Asked how to summarize the relationship, Chapman told the inquiry there’s “a profound need for a change in mentality.”
“There isn’t going to be a simple solution,” he said. “It’s going to take years to deal with this problem. That’s the truth of the matter — it’s a deeply, deeply rooted problem.”
CAN THE INQUIRY LEAD TO CHANGES?
After receiving a 10-month extension, the inquiry’s final report is due Sept. 30, 2019.
Several witnesses at the Montreal portion of the hearings urged the inquiry’s commissioner, Jacques Viens, to ensure the report establishes a clear action plan with recommendations that can be implemented.
Jessica Quijano, who runs the Iskweu project — a Montrealbased justice program designed to curtail violence against Indigenous women — ended her testimony with an impassioned plea to Viens.
“Do the best you can,” Quijano said.
“A lot of people don’t have a voice. Use everything you can to change things. Because it’s really, really bad for some people. And it’s not right.
“It’s very wrong.”