Quebec probes alleged police abuse of aboriginal women

MONTREAL—Quebec’s provincial police force has suspended eight officers accused of abuse of power and assault involving aboriginal women in the remote mining town of Val-d’Or.

The allegations, which were publicized in a Radio-Canada report, involve women who were paid or forced to perform sexual acts to uniformed, on-duty Sureté du Québec officers — one allegedly inside a police station. Others told the French-language broadcaster they were harassed, beaten, or driven to the outskirts of the town in western Quebec and forced to walk home inebriated and in harsh winter conditions.

The Quebec government responded Friday by calling in an external police force to investigate the allegations. But the province has also made clear that it sees in this case further proof of the need for an inquiry into the fate of missing and murdered aboriginal women across Canada that the newly elected Liberal government of Justin Trudeau has promised to call.

“There is no way to see this other than as troubling and shocking,” said Quebec Public Safety Minister Lise Theriault, who fought back tears in a Quebec City news conference.

“The reality for the aboriginal women in Val-d’Or, but also all across Canada, is worrying and unacceptable. We have to act in collaboration with all levels of government.”

A spokesman for the provincial police force, Capt. Guy Lapointe, said that it began as an internal investigation into the allegations against its officers in May when it was made aware of some of the alleged wrongdoing. The Radio-Canada report that aired Thursday contained additional incidents the SQ was not previously aware of, Lapointe said.

In a news conference, he said nine officers are the subject of 14 separate allegations. One of those officers, accused of two separate sexual assault allegations, is now deceased. Of the eight others, five are still working in Val-d’Or and three have since moved on to other postings in the province.

All eight have been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is conducted by the Montreal police force. In addition, the SQ has brought in a new commanding officer to lead the 60 officers posted to the town of 32,000 people and instituted a working group that will focus on training officers in their interactions with aboriginals. Both measures are aimed at trying to restore confidence with the local aboriginal community and Quebecers at large.

“These are exceptional measures for an exceptional situation,” Lapointe said.

The allegations were uncovered while Radio-Canada’s investigative news program, Enquête, was looking into the case of an aboriginal woman, Sindy Ruperthouse, who had gone missing in 2014 and complaints that the police had not seriously investigated her disappearance.

A group of aboriginal women who knew Ruperthouse told of their encounters with local police going back years. One young woman recounted being driven out to the woods and paid $200 by two police officers for oral sex.

“If they were two they would pay $200 each. It was $100 for the service and another $100 to keep my mouth shut,” she said, adding that she had had similar encounters with seven Sureté du Québec officers in total.

“Sometimes they paid me in cocaine, sometimes in cash. Sometimes it was both.”

Another recounted being caught in the street with a beer two decades ago and being taken into an interrogation room in the police station. She said she was 19 years old.

“He pulled down his pants and that was that. After we went back downstairs and it was as if nothing had happened,” she said.

The owner of a local bar told Radio-Canada that she had seen more than a dozen aboriginal women mistreated and subject to physical and sexual abuse by police officers over the years.

A number of the women said they had filed complaints about their treatment at the hands of the police but never heard back about the results of any investigation.

The six-month journalistic inquiry appears to have prompted police to take a recent and renewed interest in at least two of the cases. But it has also prompted wider calls for action.

Chief Ghislain Picard of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec-Labrador, said the provincial government should call a public inquiry to look at how the justice system treats First Nations in Quebec.

“Systematic discrimination against First Nations exists. It is not an urban legend,” Picard said in a statement Friday. “The government of Quebec must respond to this culture of indifference when our members are the victims. It must stop.”

Amnesty International said this case should add urgency to the calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women across Canada, which has been promised by the newly elected Trudeau government.