Aanii, Madam Chair, and committee members. My name is Constable Darrell Rivers. I am the indigenous liaison officer for the Greater Sudbury Police Service.
The city of Sudbury has one of the largest growing indigenous populations in Canada and the fastest growing in Ontario. According to StatsCan the city of Sudbury will have the largest urban indigenous population by 2036. There are approximately 22 first nation communities within a two-hour drive of the city, which makes us a hub to access various services in northern Ontario.
In order for the Greater Sudbury Police to best serve the community we live and work in community engagement has been a priority. All police services need to be involved from the onset of every missing persons investigation. The Greater Sudbury Police Service has a long-standing relationship with our indigenous community and agencies since the late nineties when the need for an indigenous liaison officer was identified and also a body of indigenous representatives from various indigenous organizations within the city.
From that our indigenous advisory committee was created. Over the years this committee meets quarterly with our chief of police to discuss issues and challenges from the community and work collaboratively to identify opportunities for solutions. From this co-led body a grant was received and a committee was created to raise awareness within the city through community initiatives and police officer training. One of these initiatives from this collaboration was the creation of the “Indigenous Women and Girls Missing Persons Toolkit and Resource Guide”.
At the conclusion of this project a monument was created. An approximately 15-foot aluminum red dress with the words “no more stolen sisters” in the centre of it was placed on the side of the building of one of our community partners. I am the third indigenous liaison officer to sit in this role and benefit greatly from those who came before me. It is imperative that all police services across the country build, and/or rebuild, trust with the community so that when the red dress alert system becomes active it can be a more effective resource to assist police in locating loved ones.
Meegwetch for your time and opportunity for this presentation.