Nearly two years after she first pleaded for Quebec to take action to protect Indigenous women, Viviane Michel will be the last person to testify before the public inquiry into the treatment of First Nations and Inuit people.
Michel, the president of the Native Women’s Association, was the first witness to testify when the inquiry began in 2017.
She was also among the advocates who demanded the inquiry after a Radio-Canada investigation reported several allegations of police misconduct against Indigenous women in Val-d’Or.
In Enquête‘s report, broadcast in October 2015, women alleged they were taken on “starlight tours” — driven out of town by police and left to walk back — and suffered other types of discrimination at the hands of provincial police officers.
None of the women who made the initial allegations spoke publicly during the hearings, and it is impossible to know if any of them chose to testify in private.
Michel’s testimony was among more 1,088 other stories and expert opinions shared with the inquiry over the 38 weeks of hearings, presided by retired Justice Jacques Viens.
Held mainly in Val-d’Or, the commission also traveled to Mani-Utenam, Mistissini, Montreal and Kuujjuarrapik in northern Quebec.
In all, 277 citizens came forward with their personal experiences dealing with police, hospital staff and other public services like youth protection and the justice system.
In several cases, witnesses described how discriminatory measures were in some cases life-altering.
One Inuit mother said her son’s injuries weren’t taken seriously by medical staff, and that Levi Pirti Kumarluk would still be alive if he’d been non-Inuk.
‘Respect us,’ says Indigenous leader
The Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (APNQL), Ghislain Picard, appeared four times before Viens.
On Thursday, Picard addressed Viens one last time. He said he could issue a thousand recommendations, but also just a single one.
“Respect us,” he said.
AFNQL Chief Ghislain Picard told the inquiry commissioner, Jacques Viens, in June 2017 that Indigenous people in Quebec are so conditioned to being discriminated against they consider it ‘normal’ behaviour. (Viens Commission)
The APNQL is demanding a complete overhaul of Quebec’s government bodies to ensure Indigenous rights are recognized within every ministry.
It is also calling for independent police forces within Indigenous communities, or, at the very least, cultural training for officers who are called to work with Indigenous people.
The APNQL said the government needs to adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), a promise Premier François Legault committed to during the election campaign.
“For me, it’s very clear the gap that divides our people is deep and we need to speak out,” Picard said.