Quebec indigenous leaders renew call for inquiry into relations with police
MONTREAL — Quebec indigenous leaders are renewing calls for a public inquiry into the relationship between police and First Nations communities, even as the province continues to refuse.
Ghislain Picard, chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, told a news conference Monday that it was unacceptable that the province has refused to hold an independent probe.
The calls came after last week’s decision by Crown officials not to charge any of the six provincial police officers accused of abusing indigenous women in the northern Quebec town of Val d’Or.
Quebec’s Public Security Department had mandated the Montreal police force to investigate allegations of physical and sexual abuse by provincial police in Val d’Or, following an award-winning investigative report by Radio-Canada’s investigative program “Enquete” in 2015.