Thank you, Chair.
Thanks to both witnesses. I can hear the frustration in both of your voices with regard to how this issue has been studied, and recommendations have been made, and yet we are sitting here in 2020 looking at it again. I am hopeful.
I do have a question specifically because we're looking at recommendations around indigenous policing that we can give to the government. As you know, first nations policing is in the minister's mandate letter to become an essential service.
I feel, though, that it goes beyond just giving funding to those police services. Beyond just with funding, how can we equip them to actually be effective in their communities?
One concern I have is to provide trauma-informed services to indigenous women in communities and to ensure that we don't just replicate mistakes of other police services when we're empowering first nations policing. How do we get more women in police services? How do we deal with women in small communities where their brother-in-law is the chief of police and they don't want to go because of domestic violence, and do things similar to what we do in other systems?
I would like to put that question to both of you as we look at making first nations policing an essential service. How do we ensure we're not repeating mistakes of the past and that we are providing essential services to these women in communities?
Maybe, Ms. Whitman, we could start with you. Then, Mr. Falconer, if you want to add something, that would be great.