(Quebec Premier Phillipe Couillard at a news conference with Indigenous leaders in Montreal in 2015. Couillard says while nothing is confirmed, he’s not closing the door to a public inquiry. Photo: APTN)
APTN National News
QUEBEC _ The Quebec government isn’t rejecting calls for an independent, provincial inquiry into relations between indigenous people and police, Premier Philippe Couillard said Tuesday.
Despite being careful not to commit to anything, Couillard signalled for the first time since news broke in 2015 that women in a northern town accused police of abuse, that his government was open to launching an inquiry.
“I did not say that we are closing the door to anything,” he told reporters. “Nor am I announcing anything to you right now.”
Shortly after meeting with the chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, Ghislain Picard, Couillard said his government needs to find “concrete and practical” answers to the concerns of native leaders.
Couillard’s government has been under pressure from the opposition and native groups to open an independent inquiry after native women in Val d’Or, Que. accused six provincial police officers of abuse.
At a Nov. 4, 2015 meeting between chiefs and the premier, Indigenous leaders demanded an independent inquiry to look into the relationship between police and First Nations people – but walked away empty handed. Couillard would only say that investigators with the Montreal police would look into the Val-d’Or allegations. But leaders said Montreal police have their own issues with racism.
In the end, the investigation into the allegations by the Montreal police did not result in any charges against the six officers stationed in the town, located 530 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
Montreal police ended up investigating 38 cases complaining of police abuse from across the province, including alleged rape, sexual assault, harassment, and so-called “starlight tours,” where police would allegedly take people against their will and drive them far outside town and abandon them.
Crown attorneys said that the lack of charges didn’t mean the accusers weren’t telling the truth.
Couillard said he “appreciated the enormous trauma” that some of Quebec’s northern native communities say they are suffering.
The provincial police accused in the case deny the allegations and their association has come out strongly against an independent inquiry.
