That is an excellent question. Thank you.
Actually, there are two schools of thought that come out of the police towards indigenous youth. One is suspicion and mistrust and always believing that these young people might be criminally involved, sometimes with absolutely no reason or evidence. There's another thought that comes toward indigenous people that's equally as hurtful, harmful and devastating, and that is dismissing such critical incidents as missing people, missing indigenous women and girls, and blaming lifestyle. There are always assumptions made that if someone is missing or if someone's in crisis, they're to blame. There isn't the same desperation to honour a request for help when it is an indigenous person rather than someone who's non-indigenous in Winnipeg.
Those two negative experiences that come toward the young indigenous people get ingrained. They internalize it. The police are a symbol. The RCMP are a symbol. They are an authority. They are powerful. They have power. They have privilege. When young people feel so much negativity towards them, such suspicion and mistrust, and their concerns are not taken seriously when they are in crisis or in trouble or are missing, it leads them to believe they are “less than”. That is unconscionable.