'It's putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg': Indigenous leaders say police training inept, join calls to defund

As morecasessurface about Indigenous people facing brutality at the hands of police, leaders are joining calls to defund the police, saying efforts like cultural sensitivity training are failing.

"It's like putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg," says Urban Native Youth Association vice-president Matthew Norris. Cultural sensitivitytraining forcity police and RCMPis inadequate for understanding Indigenous people's experiences,he adds.

Norris, who isNehithaw-Cree, is also part of a new group called the Vancouver Just Recovery Coalition that launched a campaign to defund the police this week, saying Canadaneeds to recognizeIndigenous people's rights to determine how to protect themselves.

His group is concerned thatpolice budgets will remain unchanged whilemany organizationsthat supportvulnerable communities are facing cuts. That's a poor choice because theVancouver Police Department, he says, does little to serve Indigenous people or their concerns.

"There is a certain amount of fear [of police] from communities that are over-policed, and we need to see something new, withIndigenous youthat the table to decide what an effective system looks like," said Norris.

In responseto concerns about strainedrelations with Indigenous people, the Vancouver Police Department told the CBC thattheir "officers are highly trained and do an excellent job in responding as first responders."

DirectorSteve Schnitzerof the Justice Instituteof British Columbia's Police Academy said that theVPD'scurrent training to address anti-Indigenous racism is watching a 45-minutevideo called The Spirit Has No Colour aboutIndigenous relationswith the police.

New recruits also takepart in a one-day session that features Indigenous community members and elders speaking about the impacts of colonization.

Norris calls it"a paltry exercise."

'Woefully inadequate'

"Ifail to see how these programs result in substantive change to an institution that has been criticized time and time again for its discriminatory behaviour ...clearly these programs do not work, and it's time to try something new," Norris said.

That something new, he said, needs to take Indigenous self-determination into consideration, where organizations that aim to support and protectIndigenous people are drivenby their communitiesand funded at the same level as non-Indigenous organizations, something that is often not the case in Canada.

It's something MtislawyerPatricia Barkaskasagrees with.

"This is a conversation that thefederal government should be having with Indigenous people and with Indigenous nations about what it is that they need, and it comes back to sovereignty,"Barkaskas said.

Barkaskaswho is also adirectorat the Indigenous Community Legal Clinic agrees with the goal ofdefundingpolice,but saysIndigenous people also face discriminationand violence fromother Canadian institutions such as child welfare and health care.

She also points to theRCMP's role in removing Indigenouschildren from their homes and Indigenous people from their lands something she said continues today, includingWet'suwet'enpeopleremoved by the RCMP to make way for the Coastal Gaslink pipeline following a court injunction.

"We have a long history as Indigenous people with the RCMP as the military arm of the Canadian state that is meant to eradicate us, and those histories don't disappear,"Barkaskas said.

As for the Vancouver police's assertion that their training is improving relations with Indigenous people, she disagrees.

"Clearly this training is woefully inadequate," she said.

"Obviously a 45-minute video cannot even begin to cover the history and ongoing impacts of colonialism," she added.

She and Norris feel that while education is important, it is limited in the amount it can do to shift cultural and institutionalracism within a police force.

Ultimately she believes thatIndigenous people's own laws, justice systems and governments must be recognized by all levels of governments in order for Indigenous people to be treated fairly by police.

"Indigenous Nations have our own ways of accountabilityand responsibility and those have existed for thousands of years," she said.

Still some Indigenous people are looking atinstitutionalreform as a way to address police discrimination against Indigenous people.

Others say more training is needed

Recommendations from thenational inquiry looking into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada callfor moreanti-racism and anti-bias training and more culture and language training for officers.

The VPDis now in talks with the Indigenous-led group called Reconciliation Canada to create more training for its officers.The forcesought out the group after its officers handcuffed and detained a 12-year-old Indigenous girl and her grandfather who weretrying to open a bank account at a branch of the Bank of Montreal in downtown Vancouver late last year.

"I think training can provide some level of motivation for individuals to make some substantiative changes," said Karen Joseph, the chief executive officer of ReconciliationCanada.

"Even though a system might exist that is inherently detrimental, the individuals can often lead changes if they are motivated," she added.

Join CBC British Columbia for a virtual town hall about racism on June 17th at 7pm.