Indigenous police accused of dragging feet on child sexual abuse complaint in Quebec community

When Sylvane tried to file a police complaint last year against the chief of the small Innu community of Uashat-Maliotenam for allegedly sexually abusing her when she was a teenager, she ran into a roadblock.

"The Aboriginal police didn't want to take my complaint because they said he's the chief right now," she told Radio-Canada's investigative program,Enqute.

Sylvane whose last name, like those of severalother women interviewed for this report,CBC/Radio-Canada has agreed to conceal alleges the abuse started in June 2000, soon after her 13th birthday, when the current chief, Mike McKenzie, was 26.

"He gave me drugs, he made me drink. But in exchange, I always had to give him sex," she told Radio-Canada.

She persisted in trying to report the alleged abuse, turning to the provincial police, who told her they couldn'tintervene unless they were asked to by the local Indigenous police force. Eventually, after she got help froma lawyer, the provincial policedid step in and launched an investigation.

In June 2016, charges of sexual assault and sexual touching were laid against McKenzie, with the preliminary inquiry set to beginFriday.

McKenzie maintains his innocence.

He gave me drugs, he made me drink. But in exchange, I always had to give him sex.- Sylvane, describing allegations she'smade against current Uashat-MaliotenamChief Mike McKenzie

When the charges were laid, the chief stepped down temporarily. But he returned to work after a two-month absence, saying he was democratically elected and felt it was important to fulfilhis duties.

"What message does that send in our community?" said Lise Jourdain, a friend who reached out to Sylvane when she heard about the allegations. "Don't touch the chief, but you can touch a 12-year-old child."

Jenny, another Innu woman from the same community on Quebec's North Shore, 900 kilometres northeast of Montreal,saidher five-year-oldson was being abused by the teenaged son of a babysitter, beginning in 2009.

She said she complained to local police when she learned about the abuse in 2011, but the abuse continued even after police interviewed her son about his allegations. The interview was conducted by an officer with the community's Aboriginal police force in Frenchinstead of in the son's native Innu.

In all, Jennysaidshe made four complaints to policewithout result.

Aftershe went to police for the fourth time, Jenny took her sonto hospital for an examination when police failed to do so. She said she was toldthe forensic rape kit done at the hospital was lost. However, Enqutelearned it was transmitted to police, but it had never been sent to a Montreal lab to be tested.

No charges have been brought against the alleged abuser.

The Crown prosecutor's office reviewed the file twice and determined the law was applied as it should be, because of the "young age" of the boy, "his difficulties in describing the facts and his confusion at what happened."

Quebec's public security minister has just launched an internal ethics probe into how police handled the case.

'Politicized' police?

Many Indigenous communities in Quebec are policed by a local squad that falls under the band council's jurisdiction.

"It will always remain a local police, a politicized police force," said Maurice Tass, a former Sret du Qubec officer who once headed a now-defunct regional Indigenous police forcebefore it was disbanded in 2000 due to lack of resources.

What message does that send in our community?Don't touch the chief, but you can touch a 12-year-old child.- Lise Jourdain, member of the Innu community of Uashat-Maliotenam

In fact,all of the questionsEnqetesent to theUashat-MaliotenamPolice Service were referred to the band council, which had promised to respond.

But the council's executive directorfailed toshowup to two meetings with Radio-Canada journalists to respond to the allegations.

Struggling for justice amid backlash

A third woman, Nicole, told Radio-Canada she had to wait 10long years, some of them in self-imposed exile from her Atikamekwcommunity, 400 kilometres north of Montreal,before she saw the man whom she accused of abusing her as a childsent to prison.

Jean-PaulNashish, a former head of the Wemotaci First Nation Police Force, was sentenced to six years in prison last October for sexually assaulting five women over a 40-year period. He continues to maintain his innocence and calls his accusers liars.

As she waited for the case to wind through the courts, Nicole had to grapple withthe belief of others in Wemotacithat she was lying.

"All that time, that's what I was struggling with. I lived in fear full of stress and hatred of it all."

Sylvane said she faceda similar backlash.

"A lot of people bullied me on Facebook. [They wrote]: 'We don't believe her,'" Sylvane saidof the months after she went public about the alleged abuse. "When I saw that, I became even more discouraged."

Another Innu woman from Uashat-Maliotenam, Danielle St-Onge, says she witnessed last fall just how dismissivethe wider Indigenous community was of her experienceas a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Her uncle, LoSt-Onge, pleaded guilty to gross indecency against a minor last summer. Despite his guilty plea, he maintainedhis innocence, saying he acted on the recommendation of his lawyer. He was given a conditional discharge, however, his name now appears on the sexual offendersregistry.

Two months after he pleaded guilty, St-Onge was honoured by anAboriginal suicide prevention group for his work helping women, a move that shocked his 54-year-old niece.

"He was commended, and I was discredited," Danielle St-Onge said of the pain she felt when she found out her uncle had been honoured.

The organization later apologized and rescinded the award.

Enqetewill air its full report, Lecerclevicieux,on Radio-Canada Thursday at 9 p.m. ET