A lengthy courtroom battle has concluded that Quebec and Canada were in the wrong when it came to funding Indigenous police forces.
Quebec’s highest court ruled Dec. 15 that both governments acted in an “unworthy, dishonorable, and abusive manner”, and owes compensation.
Particularly in the region of Mashteuiatsh.
The court decided Quebec and Canada should pay $1.6 million, which equals the deficit the community accumulated over a five-year period while trying to deliver policing services.
“We didn’t have the amount of resources necessary to ensure we could offer services equivalent to what our neighbours could,” said Chief Gilbert Dominique of Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation.
To court
The northern Innu region of Mashteuiatsh took Quebec and Canada to court in 2019. It argued the governments weren’t following their commitment to adequately fund policing services on reserve.
A trial judge sided with the provincial and federal governments.
But a subsequent appeal and human rights complaint were successful.
In 2022, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal acknowledged “willful underfunding” of Indigenous policing Canada-wide.
This week’s court ruling in Quebec reinforced the same and overturned the previous ruling against Mashteuiatsh.
Discrimination
“This essentially confirms we were victims of discrimination – and, unfortunately, still to this day, in 2022, this discrimination or systemic racism still exists in the government’s approach,” said Dominique.
Ghislain Picard, regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, said governments must recognize this and act.
“Peace, order, and public safety are at the root of a blatant discrimination against our communities,” Picard said in a statement to APTN News.
Neither Quebec nor Canada’s public securities ministries returned calls for comment from APTN.
If either decides to appeal the ruling, the matter will head to the Supreme Court of Canada.
