This evening, for the six wonderful minutes I will have with you, I will be accompanied by my granddaughter Waseha, who is from the Atikamekw and Innu nations.
In a few words, I want to thank you for the invitation and thank the nations that welcome me here, on the territory called Quebec.
My words, my feelings and my thoughts will be guided by a process that has been filled with emotion and inspired by women, families, people such as our knowledge keepers and people who had standing when I was a commissioner in a former life. Of course, I will also be guided by my ability to have worn moccasins and travelled across this great country, Canada, and to have received many truths and teachings.
Regardless of the moccasins I have worn or the expertise and mandate I have been given at some point in my life, there have been powerful testimonials in the area of public safety. I will be referring to the role, mandate or understanding of police officers, both male and female, or their institutions towards women, indigenous women and individuals.
Let me start by reading you a quotation from Melanie Morrison, a woman from Kahnawake. It is long but worthwhile: I hope that there is an immediate change in the way the police manage cases involving Indigenous people, both on and off the reserves, so that nothing delays the searches for missing or murdered people. Based on my own experience, there was an obvious disconnect. On the reserve, my sister’s case was not important. Off the reserve, people did not feel engaged. If the local police and the police services off the reserve had communicated with each other, maybe we could have had closure.
Another woman from another province gave us a message. We are all going to be challenged by her testimony. She feels like she has been in survival mode since she was a little girl. She feels on her guard, she feels watched. She needs to watch her back. This is what she says:
Because I've seen my aunties, my cousins, my female cousins brutalized by police. And, growing up as a First Nation woman in this city, in this province, in this country—we're walking with targets on our backs.
This is 2020. We have all heard the striking, moving and unacceptable testimony of one of our Atikamekw sisters, Joyce Echaquan. This time, it is not about the police, but about an institution where she thought she would find well-being and answers, and where she could be taken care of. So we feel that, regardless of the institution, this systemic racism is unfortunately too present.
I will continue quickly because time is precious. I could tell you that many reports and commissions of inquiry have provided you with evidence. These are commissions that you have ordered us to undertake in the democracy that is Canada and in the provinces and territories. Now it is the turn of our elected officials, our members of Parliament, both men and women, and our democratic institutions to honour the calls for justice and action, with all the accompanying recommendations. More than 1,200 recommendations have been made over the past 40 years.
The police have carried out many exercises. They have demonstrated and proven that there are gaps and areas requiring substantial changes. Quebec, as one of Canada's provinces, has a police force: the Sûreté du Québec. It also has indigenous police forces, just like in Ontario, which has many of them.
Everywhere I go, I hear and read that these underfunded organizations are also part of the problem regarding violence against women. The acute lack of funding and resources has long been a problem. The jurisdictional issue between Canada, the provinces and indigenous communities also adds to the complexity.
What action do we take as front-line workers?
So I think we deserve some attention—