Quebec chief blasts SQ for 'odious' attempt to raid Aboriginal police forces for Val-d'Or pilot project

An effort to set upa mixed Indigenous and non-Indigenous police station in Val-d'Or is facing intenseopposition from the Assembly of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (AFNQL).

Quebec's provincial police force announced the one-year pilot project last November, in the wake ofcomplaints of abuse and racism in the town, 400 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

• Indigenous police officers added in Val-d'Or in wake of abuse allegations

The plan was to have the police station operating by this spring, with eight Indigenousand eight non-Indigenous officers.

However,now the Sret du Qubec will not say when the stationwill open.

AFNQLChief Ghislain Picardsaid he doesn't believe the SQ has been able to attract any Indigenous officers.

"The intention of having a mixed police station, it's going nowhere. It's not working," he said.

'We cannot allocate police officers we don't have'

Picardquestioned howthe provincial government was ableto find funding for the pilot project whenFirst Nationspolice forces are having suchtrouble securing steady financing.

He said the SQ is competing with Aboriginal police forces for a limited number of qualified Indigenous officers, and community-based First Nations police services can't spare the ones they have.

"Just because it is an Indigenous police force does not mean it's not an essential service," Picardsaid.

The Sret du Qubec, which has 65 Indigenous officers within its ranks, approached the Wendake police service for help fillingthe Val-d'Or positions.

Daniel Langlais, the head of the Wendakeforce, which operates within the limits of Quebec City, refused arequest to lend officers to the provincial police for theone-year project.

The idea sounds good at first glance, Langlais said, but recruitment is already a challenge for his own force.

"Our resources are very, very limited," he said.

"We cannot allocate police officers we don't have."

SQ should have consulted chiefs, Picard says

Picard recently met the police chiefs of 15 Aboriginal forces, and he said none of them are backing the Val d'Or project.

"We have police chiefs who are responsible people. Why would I commit resources elsewhere when I don't have enough at home?" he said.

• ANALYSIS: Val-d'Or is forcing Quebec to think about big problems

In a letter to the public security minister last month, Picard condemned the Sret du Qubec's "odious" attempt to draw officers from the ranks of Aboriginal forces.

He told the minister that his organization had been "greatly surprised" by last November's announcement.

"No consultations, not even discussions, had taken place with First Nations beforehand," he wrote.

Picard had expressed reticence about the project when it was originally announced.

In aMarch 7 letter, he stated categorically, his organization "cannot support the initiative."

Picard said he had repeatedly told the provincial police about his concerns.

"Quebec is putting on blinders," he said.

"Why does Quebec insist on this effort that obviously does not have the necessary support of our communities?"

The provincial police would not comment on the status of its initiative.

When the Sret du Qubec's director general, MartinPrud'homme,announced the plan, he said it would build bridges with the Aboriginal community.

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