Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 26th, 2025

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 14 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. We recognize that we meet on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, the committee is continuing its study of indigenous policing and public safety.

Before I welcome our first panel, for those joining us online, if you need to get the chair's attention, please use the “raise hand” function. The clerk and I will then call on you.

By video conference, we have with us today, from Garden River First Nation, Chief Karen Bell.

We may have to suspend and check the audio. The audio has been challenging, to say the least, over the last couple of weeks. We'll make sure it works for the interpreters.

In person, we have Sandra DeLaronde, project lead, Gi-Ganawenima'Anaanig.

Thank you very much for joining us. I know that you tried by video before and it didn't work, so thank you for travelling and appearing here in person.

You have five minutes, Sandra. Please begin.

[Sandra DeLaronde, Project Lead, Gi-Ganawenima'Anaanig #231 Implementation Committee (Manitoba)]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for giving me the opportunity to come and present in person.

Thank you to the committee members as well for creating the space here and for the opportunity to meet with you today.

I am really committed to this issue. In particular, bringing an urban indigenous lens to indigenous policing is critical.

Our name, Gi-Ganawenima'Anaanig, means “we all take care of them”. This name was given to us in a ceremony that was conducted by matriarchs.

We are a Manitoba-wide network of first nations, Red River Métis and Inuit families, knowledge keepers, urban indigenous-led organizations, two-spirit-led and first nations, Métis and Inuit representative organizations and governments. The City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba also sit at our table.

Our network first came together many years ago to call for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. In 2024, the federal and provincial governments entrusted Gi-Ganawenima'Anaanig to carry out a province-wide engagement process on the development of a red dress alert system to mobilize police and public response in the critical hours and days after a first nations, Métis or Inuit woman, girl, or gender-diverse relative goes missing. We released our final report yesterday in Winnipeg on a plan to implement the red dress alert in our province.

I would like to share some of the findings of that engagement process, because these findings speak directly to the importance of indigenous policing.

First, we heard countless examples of the wide gulf in trust between non-indigenous police services and the indigenous communities they are meant to serve. In fact, we heard from many community members, who said that even if they feared for the life of a loved one, they would be reluctant to go to the police. We heard examples of family members turning to community organizations, to indigenous leadership and even to fire departments, because they don't trust the police. We also heard accounts of missing persons never even being reported.

The other key theme from our dialogue sessions is closely connected to the issue of mistrust. What we heard many times is that family and community members who do not go to the RCMP and the city police to report a missing loved one are too often not being listened to. They have been treated dismissively or rudely. This adds to the trauma experienced by families and communities, and we feel it undermines the effectiveness of any investigation. In fact, we heard numerous examples of police telling family members that they should go away and only come back once more time has passed.

This is continuing to happen in the province of Manitoba, even after the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. It is happening in the midst of a period of unprecedented public awareness and government acknowledgement of the threats facing indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse persons.

This is why we are recommending the creation of an indigenous-led red dress alert organization to serve as the first point of contact for indigenous families and communities to ensure that their concerns are heard and to help ensure a quick response when a loved one goes missing.

Our findings illustrate the critical importance of the full implementation of the calls for justice 9.1 to 9.11 that emphasize the systemic change needed to ensure the safety and security of indigenous women, girls, gender-diverse people and our families, communities and nations.

In Manitoba, we are fortunate to have a first nations police service.

I have seen for myself the indigenous policing services are better able to serve indigenous communities. They understand the importance of culture and protocol. They are prepared to work with family members in a trauma-informed way. This builds trust and produces better results for community safety and community healing.

Unfortunately, the majority of first nations, Red River Métis and Inuit do not benefit from the indigenous policing model because we live in urban centres under the jurisdiction of city police. That is why there also must be investment in indigenous police services that must go hand in hand with the creation of dedicated units within all police forces, staffed by indigenous officers and resourced to support the needs of indigenous peoples.

We have already seen that where RCMP and municipal police services employ first nations and Métis officers, the cultural competency that they bring to their roles makes a significant difference in their ability to serve indigenous communities.

We believe that these two approaches can complement and support each other, the parallel development of indigenous police services and dedicated units within non-indigenous police services, with collaboration across these two systems. It will increase the number of culturally competent police officers serving in our communities. It will also build the relationships, trust and understanding that we need to ensure the safety and security of all first nations, Red River Métis and Inuit people in Manitoba, with particular emphasis on the safety of our women, girls and gender-diverse people.

Thank you for listening. I would be prepared to answer any questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Thank you very much.

Our first round will be six minutes.

For the Conservatives we have MP—

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Are we not going to hear from Chief Karen Bell?

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

No. I'm sorry. She's having technical difficulties once again.

If she does come online, we will suspend briefly, do a test and go from there.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Are we going to test her now or are we just going to go into it?

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON]

Yes, that would be nice for her.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

She's not even online now. If she appears online, I will suspend—

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish, NS]

Yes, please stop the meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

—do a test and then you'll have the opportunity to ask questions.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Is that fair? Jaime says he can start?

[An hon. member]

Ginette wants to start.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Do you mind if she starts?

Okay.

Madam Lavack, please, you have six minutes.

[Ginette Lavack, Liberal, St. Boniface—St. Vital, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good evening, everyone.

Ms. DeLaronde, thank you very much for being with us today.

It's a pleasure to see you again following yesterday's announcement on the red dress alert pilot project that was announced by Gi-Ganawenima'Anaanig. It was a really touching and moving event. To see the families and survivors present was really something special. I'm happy I got to take part in all of that.

You've shared with us today some of the plan. As you said, this report does not have recommendations. It is really an action plan to put into practice, to put into place, the red dress alert.

Could you elaborate a little bit specifically on the project? What steps do you want to take? What impacts do you expect it will have on MMIWG2S?

[Sandra DeLaronde]

First of all, the consultation process went to communities first, to families who were directly impacted and to survivors of violence and human trafficking. They outlined the issues and presented different ways that we can address the situation quickly. Each of those consultations said that we needed this now or we needed it yesterday.

We were really conscious of the ability to create safety quickly for them and for all of us, actually. We took their responses to our essential partners, which were police services, health care, fire departments, the tourism industry, the hotel industry, education services and child and family services. We asked them as essential partners how they can help create safety.

From those two reports, the team was able to build a framework for a pilot project, which really is a system. We acknowledge that technology is foundational to this work, but not everybody has access to it, so we have to do a bit more work on that. Technology also provides people who are victims an opportunity to say that they're in trouble and to ask for help.

The other concern was that, if people just don't want to be found, if they're in situations of intimate partner violence, they could say that they're not missing, that they're hiding and they could ask for help.

Often, when you put out a missing persons report, it's too late. If people have an opportunity to take those steps to protect their safety, and then have the community and the institutions support that, I think that is the measure of success.

[Ginette Lavack, Liberal, St. Boniface—St. Vital, MB]

In this first phase, the federal government committed $1.3 million to support the pilot project.

How do you think governments can best support its implementation and ensure its long-term sustainability?

[Sandra DeLaronde]

We're absolutely grateful to the federal government for providing the financial support to do this part of the work, but we can't always rely on the goodwill of government going forward.

I think of what the late senator Murray Sinclair said. He said that it took us seven generations to get here and it will take us seven generations to create that change.

We have to have a long-term commitment to the safety of indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people. That will require legislation, provincially and federally, I believe. Due to the urgent nature of this—Parliament declared this a national emergency two years ago—we need to be able to act with precision on implementing an alert system.

[Ginette Lavack, Liberal, St. Boniface—St. Vital, MB]

In your opinion, what does culturally safe policing look like in practice for indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people?

[Sandra DeLaronde]

A culturally safe practice looks like an individual being approached in a manner that's safe, with the appropriate language. It means moving beyond that initial interaction and providing that long-term support, including for the families and communities.

We had a situation in Winnipeg this summer where a young woman had remained unidentified for a year. We partnered with the police service and led the outreach to community publicly. Within 24 hours, the young woman was identified, and her family returned to Winnipeg. That was done, but without that community intervention, she would still be unidentified.

[Ginette Lavack, Liberal, St. Boniface—St. Vital, MB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

I do believe we have Chief Bell online. We would like to run a test, please, for the interpreters.

I'll suspend just for a moment, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Chief Bell, it's good to see you. You have perfect timing. We just finished with our first presenter. Now, we would like you to speak for five minutes, please.

[Chief Karen Bell, Garden River First Nation]

Good evening, everyone. My name is Chief Karen Bell of the Garden River First Nation in Ontario.

I was a police officer for 35 years in my home community of Garden River First Nation, employed with the Anishinabek Police Service. I have since resigned, in March this year, and I am now the chief of the nation. I'm open, actually, to a lot of conversation.

I started my employment with the Anishinabek...well, actually, with my first nation in March 1990. By the time that I started there, I had spent three years with the Toronto Police Service. I went back to my home territory and was taken aback by the underfunding, the way in which policing was being conducted in that community. I was the first female officer to work in the community. I was a lone officer working by myself in a very remote community with no backup other than an OPP member who may have been 40 to 100 miles away from me.

A lot of my interactions with the community were very sporadic and fractured because I did not have the support that mainstream police officers had. I had come from a mainstream policing service, and I was not set up to work as a lone police officer within a nation. Yes, I carried a gun and I had a baton, but that did not adequately support my having to do calls for service in a first nation that had very traumatic incidents, which I attended. My personal safety was often at risk. I came from a service where anywhere from 10 to 15 officers would respond within a two-minute window. A lot of times I had to sit on the side of the highway and wait for half an hour or more for backup to arrive. I was leaving many members and victims vulnerable because I was not responding in a timely fashion.

There is a provincial highway that goes through the community of Garden River First Nation. Actually, currently there are two provincial highways that go through there, but at the time there was one. It was the only highway, the Queen's highway. It intersects the eastern side of the country to the western side. Anybody and everybody who travels from one side of the country to the other had to pass through my first nation. I was making traffic stops on a highway by myself in the dark, and the only support that I had was the dispatcher. Often, because I didn't feel safe, I would not make those stops or respond to calls until I had backup. Like I said, as a result, I was putting many people at risk of vulnerability and further harm because I couldn't get to them at a time that was normally sufficient when you have a number of officers to support you and provide you with that backup.

I didn't have officers to bounce things off of—not just for backup purposes but on how to approach and deal with situations—especially in situations of crisis, so decisions were made on the fly, right at the time that you're there. Even though I'm from that community and I know the people there, there are still times when you don't know the people, or you don't know them when they're in a crisis and they're capable of doing anything and everything. I have been chest bumped, pushed from behind, had objects thrown at me in the dark and I have been unable to identify who did it. I've entered homes or spaces when I was the only officer working who had the ability to go there, and the dispatcher was telling me my backup was an hour away.

I couldn't sit there and wait and listen to predominantly a female being assaulted. As a police officer, it was my role and responsibility to serve and protect the public and their property. It was not to do nothing about it. There were times when I put myself in a situation I probably shouldn't have. Nonetheless, that was the career I had, and that was how I had to deal with situations that were presented to me.

I realized that, at the end of the day, I had to go home. As an officer, there are times when you get those feelings, that things are not comfortable, or things are not safe for you, so you don't go there.

I would like to let this committee know about the disparity in the backup system we had at the time, and still do, and about the lack of funding for additional vehicles or additional apparatus to augment your safety as an officer or to provide that additional complement that will put two people in a cruiser rather than one. To have to spend a 12-hour shift by yourself is not healthy for your own well-being.

I can tell you that back in the early 1990s, there were only two of us working. One of us would work all the day shifts, 12 hours a day, and the other officer would work every single night shift in the month. Then we would flip over and do the same the next month. I would do 30 12-hour day shifts in a row, and the other officer would do 30 12-hour night shifts in a row. Then we would switch. We never had any time off. There was nobody else to serve and protect the community. It was not the responsibility of the OPP to police that community. I had no choice but to work those kinds of hours and those kinds of days as an officer early on in my career in the 1990s. On top of that, oftentimes when you worked a night shift, you had to go to court the next morning. You were in court all day. Then you would come home and get maybe two or three hours of sleep before you got up to go back to work again.

It does drain a lot of people. It does wear and tear on the human body. Every working day you're in a uniform. Every working hour it seems like you're in a uniform and you've dedicated your entire life and your entire career to working in that community. If I did not have a vested interest in my home community and the public safety, I would probably not have lasted 35 years, for sure. I would probably have gone back to another police service where I knew, coming from the Toronto Police Service, that I didn't have to work the hours I was working and where I knew that I would have support from many other officers as well from as the technological items I could use.

We had no other officer. I was the only officer. I was the chief cook and bottle washer. I was the officer who did all the calls for service and everything.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Chief Bell, I'm sorry for interrupting.

Thank you very much for your opening statement.

We'll get some questions from the members going and there will be some more time for you to answer them.

[Chief Karen Bell]

Good enough.