(Montreal) The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador wants CAQ MP for Abitibi-Est Pierre Dufour to leave office, following his remarks last week regarding a Radio-Canada report on allegations of police abuse of Aboriginal women and the conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry into Relations between Aboriginal Peoples and Certain Public Services in Quebec.
The Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, Ghislain Picard, believes that the only “honorable” thing that Mr. Dufour can do is to resign, because of his “contemptuous and unworthy” assertions.
“I think that there are deputies or ministers whose resignation has been requested for less than that”, launches Mr. Picard in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“Especially when you claim to come from the region, that you have always lived there and that you are an elected official, in whom you should have a minimum of faith and trust, I find that inexcusable. It is precisely because we are elected that we should be a little more careful about what we say. »
During the May 15 meeting of the Val-d’Or city council, Mr. Dufour was called upon to speak following discussions on the issue of homelessness in the municipality.
After praising the assistance measures offered by the Legault government on this issue, the member for Abitibi-Est declared that the municipal council of Val-d’Or inherited a “heap of shit”, “which been created particularly since 2015 when there was the show Investigationa show full of lies”, when he arrived in office.
Broadcast in October 2015, the report highlighted the testimony of Indigenous women from Val-d’Or who revealed that they had been abused by certain police officers.
According to Mr. Dufour, the report attacked “police officers who were very honest”. He added all the same: “I am not saying that there had not perhaps been a few crooked police officers some thirty years before. »
“This report won awards, but it created a split between the police force and the municipality, which did not protect these police officers afterwards,” said Mr. Dufour for clarify his thoughts.
This investigation had also contributed to the triggering of the commission of inquiry chaired by Judge Jacques Viens, which the CAQ MP also skinned.
Mr. Dufour deplored that the municipality of Val-d’Or did not better defend the police officers concerned when the report of the Viens commission “said that the police were racializing the Aboriginal people, because they were giving more tickets to the homeless “, according to the deputy.
The elected CAQ added that since the police did not feel supported following these allegations, they can be pushed to do “their job at the bare minimum”.
Mr. Dufour later apologized on his Facebook account, pleading that he “expressed himself under the emotion and (that) certain words exceeded (his) thought”.
“The situation in Val-d’Or is worrying. It is a sensitive and complex file, he wrote. I am in contact with the mayor (Céline Brindamour) and Public Security. We all work together, the common goal is to work for the safety of the citizens of Val-d’Or, without exception. »
But in the eyes of Mr. Picard, this written declaration is not sufficient.
“For me, that comes as a slap in the face, in a way, the efforts that we are trying to encourage a better understanding of the situation not only in Val-d’Or, but in all of Quebec. »