Native leaders want inquiry to address police racism

Police racism must be part of the inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women and girls because it is a fundamental part of the problem, the head of Canada’s aboriginal women’s association said Thursday.

“It is going to get ugly, but we have to have the courage to stick with this. Once the lid is taken off the box, you can’t put it back inside or pretend it isn’t happening,” said Dawn Lavell-Harvard, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

She spoke before hundreds of Assembly of First Nations chiefs gathered in Gatineau, Que., for a special three-day conference. The chiefs supported Lavell-Harvard and included the issue of police racism in a special resolution passed on the hallmarks of what they want covered in the much-anticipated inquiry. Racism within the RCMP ranks surged to the surface on Wednesday after RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson admitted to the chiefs there are “racists” in his police force and that he does not want them there.

The admission stunned First Nations leaders and was praised by them. They called Paulson brave for speaking honestly about it after British Columbia Grand Chief Doug Kelly challenged him by saying, “We encounter racism every single day. Some of the worst racists carry a gun and they carry a badge, authorized by you, Commissioner Paulson.”

In Parliament, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair questioned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on whether the government will make the mandate of the inquiry broad enough to include systemic racism in judicial and police institutions.

Racism in any form is unacceptable and runs contrary to Canada’s long history of diversity and inclusion, Trudeau replied.