Homeless Indigenous women in the North do not feel well protected by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and instead face violence and discrimination from police, according to a new report from the Yellowknife Women’s Society.
The organization held two sessions with women last October, and each participant said she had been a victim of violence at the hands of an RCMP officer or knew an Indigenous person who had been a victim. of violence.
“More than once, women in our circles described being mistreated by the police and being told explicitly: ‘I can do whatever I want to you, no one will believe you,’” the report said.
Some women who had requested help from the RCMP report that the police focused on the “wrong things”, asking them aggressive questions, taking time for administrative matters despite the emergency and even arresting people. women who asked for help.
In general, women who participated in the research felt that their concerns were not taken as seriously as those of non-Indigenous people.
“You know, they [les policiers] are there when you don’t need them. And when you need them, they are nowhere,” testified one participant.
Renee Sanderson, executive director of the Yellowknife Women’s Society, said these experiences, along with a broad distrust of the RCMP, have real-world consequences.
“Many unhoused Indigenous women do not seek help from the police because they fear being ignored, mistreated or worse,” she said.
“Who can they call if they don’t feel safe with the people who are supposed to protect them? »
The report makes 24 recommendations to improve these relationships and the safety of those the national police are responsible for protecting.
Mme Sanderson, who previously worked for the RCMP, said in the report that the things she saw and interactions she witnessed while employed with the RCMP were “heartbreaking.”
“I quickly realized that you had two choices: either you become part of this tight-knit group and look the other way when injustices happen, or you speak up and be ostracized,” she wrote.
A force “left to its own devices”
The report describes the RCMP as a force “left to the police themselves” due to current practices and a lack of resources for the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.
“Almost all individual cases of officer misconduct are referred to the RCMP for internal investigation. »
Between 2018 and 2023, there were 63 allegations of inappropriate use of force by the division operating in Yellowknife, the report said.
All turned out to be unfounded.
“The Indigenous women in our sharing circles have been clear: despite hundreds, if not thousands, of recommendations from all levels of government across the country, the relationship between unhoused Indigenous women in Yellowknife and the RCMP is not working. »
Colonialist roots
The force’s predecessor, the North West Mounted Police, was one of the first waves of non-Indigenous people to arrive in the region in 1873, with a mandate to impose “law and order” and assert Canadian sovereignty. It was merged with the RCMP in 1920.
Many still view the police as the enforcers of colonialism, according to the women’s organization.
This conclusion echoes that of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which noted that for many Indigenous children, their first contact with the justice system was when an RCMP officer took them to a residential school.
Research participants said many RCMP officers in their communities demonstrate a lack of understanding of Indigenous people, their cultures or their history with the police force.
Indigenous people make up about 90 per cent of the city’s homeless population, although they make up about a quarter of Yellowknife’s population.
Of this group, more than 60% had at least one parent who attended residential school, and more than a third reported living in foster care or group homes while growing up.
Changes required
Better social services would be very helpful, according to the report.
The society recommends increasing the number of shelter spaces and the capacity of mobile crisis intervention teams to help limit interactions between police and homeless Indigenous women.
“Despite having one of the highest rates of substance use and addiction in Canada, there are no residential mental health and addiction treatment facilities in the Northwest Territories,” the report notes.
The report also calls on the RCMP to undertake better training, to have more ambition in terms of community integration and to carry out a comprehensive review of policing in the territory to identify local needs and address the problem. underprotection and excessive police intervention with indigenous women and other vulnerable groups.
“This is not the first report calling for change within the RCMP,” the document states.
“The failure of the Government of Canada and national RCMP leadership to implement these recommendations is one of the causes of the breakdown in relations between the RCMP and unhoused Indigenous women. »