Indigenous are ‘afraid’ to call 911 in times of need: Nakuset
Even in a mental health crisis, some fear police will show up along with medics
An Inuit woman calls her friend in a panic: she’s feeling suicidal, she needs help, but she’s afraid to dial 911.
She’s scared the dispatcher will recognize her name as Inuit and send a platoon of armed police with a canine unit. When an Inuit woman threatened self-harm in downtown Montreal last month, that’s exactly what happened.
So when the woman’s friend asked Nakuset whether to involve an emergency dispatcher, she was unequivocal.
“I said, ‘Do not call 911! Drive her to an emergency room and wait with her,’ ” said Nakuset, executive director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.
This was Nakuset’s reaction to the Office de Consultation Publique’s report on systemic racism Monday, demanding the city improve municipal services to Indigenous people.
“Think about it. When you’re an Indigenous woman, you’re scared to dial 911,” said Nakuset. “What kind of life is that? What kind of city do we live in where you’re in a mental health crisis and they send 17 cops and a police dog?”
The 252-page report comes after 16 months of public consultations, which saw some 7,000 people participate. It comes after an internal report on systemic bias in the Montreal police department found officers are 4.6 times more likely to stop and check an Indigenous person than someone who isn’t Indigenous.
That study, which examines four years of police data, found Indigenous people are more likely to be the victims of profiling than Black or Arab people.
Monday’s report recommends better municipal services, the hiring of more Indigenous people in management positions and more access to social housing for the city’s Indigenous residents.
Nakuset was part of a team that led a sensitivity training exercise for about 100 Montreal officers in 2017. The event featured officers from the Mohawk Peacekeepers explaining best practices, a speaker from the Quebec Native Women’s Association and activities designed to foster understanding and empathy.
“We did one round of training and it was cancelled like the next day,” said Nakuset.
In a statement sent to the Montreal Gazette, the city of Montreal said its police officers continue to receive sensitivity training and that the department employs a liaison officer to work with Indigenous people in the city.
Inuit women, in particular, have shared stories about poor treatment from the Montreal police.
Mina Iquasiak Aculiak was picked up by police in 2018, after wandering away from a hospital where she’d just been operated on. Aculiak was flown to the city from the north so she could receive emergency surgery.
When police picked her up, they took her to a remote station, questioned her and released the 48-year-old into an unfamiliar city. She spoke little English and still had a catheter in her arm.
Aculiak was only found one week later after her family and friends feared for her life.
Though this is a damning example, there are times where partnerships between Inuit organizations and police have worked out well. Maggie Putulik is the director of the Ullivik health centre in Dorval and she has helped train officers at nearby Station 5.
In past interviews, Putulik told the Montreal Gazette their partnership keeps vulnerable Inuit patients safe in the city. To maintain a co-operative relationship, officers from Station 5 do monthly activities at the health centre, where the focus is building and maintaining trust.
As for the suggestion that Indigenous folk need to be hired in positions of power, the city’s reconciliation commissioner, Marie-ève Bordeleau, has made strides to make the city more welcoming to the 20,000 or so First Nations, Métis and Inuit who call it home.
But Bordeleau, who is Indigenous, will see her mandate expire next year. Meanwhile, Aurélie Arnaud, who is white, is a reconciliation adviser with the city but has a permanent position within the city.
The Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal is building social housing units for 23 women and their children, which should be ready by 2022. And while it’s a good first step, Nakuset says it won’t come close to meeting demand.
“It’ll be taken up within five minutes.”