Val-d'Or is forcing Quebec to think about big problems

As the crow flies, Val-d'Or is about 750 kilometres from Quebec City. In the distance between the northern Quebec mining town and the provincial capital, systemic racism goes from daily reality to political taboo.

"Systemic racism" was the term uttered repeatedly by Indigenous leaders who live in the communities around Val-d'Or, and who came into town last week to hear from Crown prosecutors.

When an Indigenous woman makes an allegation, we now see, nothing is taken seriously- Vivian Michel, Quebec Native Women

But in the gilded halls of the National Assembly, few are willingto accept that such a thing as systemic racism exists.

It was the explanation Indigenous leaders offered upon learning from the Crown that no one would be held criminally responsible for the abuse close to a dozen women say they suffered at the hands of provincial police.

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What else, these leaderswondered, could describe the justice system's inability to respond to the womens' testimonies of violence and intimidation.

"When an Indigenous woman makes an allegation, we now see, nothing is taken seriously," saidVivianeMichel, who headsQuebec Native Women, an advocacy group."The system doesn't move."

That perception was reinforced by an independent observer who audited the investigation by Montreal policeinto the complaints of police abuse. The report byFannie Lafontaine, a human rights lawyer, concluded there "exists systemic racism within law enforcement towards Indigenous people."

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Like many mining towns across northern Canada, Val-d'Or, pop. 31,862,is close geographicallyto anumber of First Nations communities.

And people here say the allegations have strained relations between the town and the local Algonquin and Cree populations. Some Indigenous peopleare even calling for a boycott of the municipality for events and meetings.

Government avoiding 'systemic racism' label

Butthe provincial legislature seems reluctant to discuss racism.

Parliamentary reporters in Quebec City noticedlast week that both Public Security Minister MartinCoiteuxand Native Affairs MinisterGeoffrey Kelley refused to endorse the concept of "systemic racism" when asked about Lafontaine's findings.

They preferred instead to speak of "social issues" or a "larger perspective" that needed to be considered.

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That reticence was shared by members of the opposition. Franois Legault, leader of the Coalition AvenirQuebec,said he didn't "like the word 'systemic.'"

As for thePartiQubcois,Indigenous affairs criticAlexandreCloutier would only say that the events in Val-d'Orraised the question of whether systemic racism was an issue among Quebec police. He left reporters guessing about the answer.

GhislainPicard, chief of theAssembly of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, attributes thisreluctance to talk about systemic racismto the government's opposition to an independent inquiry into the relations between Indigeous Quebecers and police.

'Agovernment in complete denial'

To date, the Liberals have been steadfast in their refusal to hold such an inquiry. They maintain it would simply rehash the work of the federal inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women, which haspromised to look into the Val-d'Or allegations.

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"They have refused from the beginning to acknowledge that there is systemic racism,"Picardsaid of the Quebec Liberals. "This is a government in complete denial."

Indigenous leaders, though, have not been the only members of civil society pushing the government to take a sustained look at systemic racism.

A group called Qubec Inclusif, based in Montreal, has also called for a public commission on institutional discrimination. They have the backing of the small progressive party Qubec Solidaire and several prominent intellectuals.

While the government has indicated it is receptive to the group's concerns which include discriminatory hiring practices it has yet to respond to their specific demand.

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Is there, perhaps, a reason other than political stubbornness for ducking the question of systemic racism?

Our system of laws is designed to hold individuals - people or corporate entities responsible. The problem with systemic racism is that there is no Oz behind the curtain, pulling the strings.

'Believe these women'

Responsibility for such types of injustice doesn't lie with one person, advocates suggest.

Structural injustice, the American philosopher Iris Marion Young once wrote, "is an unintended but unjust consequence of the actions of millions of differently positioned individuals ... all usually acting on normal and accepted rules."

Their argument is that confronting systemic racism may entail accepting that some of our most trenchant social problems are not anyone's fault, but everyone's faults some more than others, to be sure, but each of us, if only a little.

The Indigenous leaders of Val-d'Or, and their advocates, have proposed a smaller step, one they nevertheless believe will help bend what Martin Luther King,Jr. calledthe arc of the moral universe back toward justice.

"We issue a message to the Quebec population to believe these women," Michel said, after her meeting with the Crown prosecutors inVal-d'Or.

"Show these women, these victims, that there is someone, somewhere, who believes them."

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