Native policing needs urgent, says top Mountie

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The 100-year-old rift between Native elders and the RCMP over policing procedures affecting Alberta's aboriginal population was the center of attention during a conference in Edmonton on policing services.

Stirring presentations by Indian and Metis leaders highlighted the opening day of the brainstorming sessions entitled Sharing Common Ground.

The first-ever conference on aboriginal policing services went from May 30-June 1. It was sponsored by the RCMP and Native people of Alberta and was meant to open up lines of communication on a wide-range of issues that have distressed Alberta's indigenous population since their treaties were signed.

"It's going to take time to heal our spirit and establish trust," declared Kehewin elder Norbert Jebeault.

"One of the promises from the Crown (when treaties were signed) was the RCMP would be given to Native people to watch over them, to protect their land and to respect their values."

"In my observation and in what elders have identified, those promises were broken a long time age."

Speaking to an audience of more than 700 Native leaders and RCMP officers, Jebeault said Native respect for the law has disintegrated over the years because they were made to feel like prisoners in their own land.

"Right now it's sad to say that when the forces come into the reservation, it's bad news. They don't stop into our homes for a cup of coffee. They're there to harass us," he said.

"That's all we know about the RCMP. That's all we know about their attitudes."

Metis elder Anne Anderson said the opportunity to share the anger and straighten out misunderstandings is long overdue.

She said Native people were viewed as minority outcasts by society's police force from the beginning.

"Indian and Metis people should be accepted as they are. They were people of the land, the forests, the lakes and the rivers. They survived long before the Europeans came," she said.

During his keynote presentation, RCMP commissioner Norman Inkster assured Native leaders his department is working toward rebuilding the lost relationship it had with the country's aboriginal people.

"I cannot think of a time in the history of the force where the policing needs of Native communities were more urgent and acute," he said.

"Quite frankly we cannot succeed without your advice and active support."

But during a public forum after the opening remarks, it was evident visiting delegates wanted more than repeated assurances.

Caroline Yellowhorn, a Blackfoot Indian from the Peigan reserve in southern Alberta, said the RCMP are partly responsible for fashioning negative public opinion toward Native people. She said the RCMP will have to invest a lot of time in changing that misunderstanding.

Yellowhorn said since moving to Red Deer two years ago she has felt resentment from people who believe Indians are inherently criminal.

"I couldn't believe what I heard (about Native people). It blew my mind," she said.

"I hope changes (to RCMP policies) will help my people."

The conference kicked off two days of closed workshops to discuss policing services to Natives including the justice system, suicide, domestic violence, cross-cultural education, advisory groups and community an urban policing procedures.