Fannie Lafontaine was appointed by Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard to take on the role of independent observer during the Montreal police investigation into allegations of assault, sexual misconduct and other abuses of power against eight Quebec provincial police officers in Val D’Or, Quebec.
Lafontaine is a human rights lawyer and the Canada research chair on International Criminal Justice and Human Rights at Université Laval.
In a meeting today between Couillard and Quebec aboriginal leaders to discuss the allegations of police abuse of aboriginal women, the premier appealed for calm amid the growing crisis in Val D’Or.
Many of the First Nations chiefs were angry about not having been included in the decision-making process.
“We believed that it would at least be a joint decision-making process but that was far from the case,” said Ghislain Picard, the chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador.
Couillard said the meeting was a good first step. He said the province will address relations between First Nations and police forces, and suggested the new federal government, should be looking into these issues as well.
Many Canadians are watching now to see whether newly sworn in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will act soon on his promise of a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women across Canada.
Quebec will hold off on its own inquiry into the Val-d’Or allegations. “We will first see what the federal government has to say,” said Couillard.
In the meantime, the provincial government has allocated $6.1 million Cdn, for various social projects in the community, such as the Native Friendship Centre and a day centre for people in difficulty.
The Quebec police investigation was launched following a report by Radio-Canada on the alleged incidents over several years in Val-d’Or in northwestern Quebec.
The report was the result of the French public broadcaster looking for Sindy Ruperthouse. She is the Algonquin woman whose disappearance set off the chain of events that revealed many aboriginal women in Val-d’Or had faced alleged abuse at the hands of provincial police officers.
“The months have been long, long since April 2014. Me and my wife, we went to Montreal, we went to Ottawa, everywhere. We even went to Radisson, Chisasibi, up north to search for her,” her father, Johnny Wylde told Radio Canada reporters.
There are said to be at least 1200 missing and murdered aboriginal women across Canada, and demands for a public inquiry are increasing.
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