Unhoused Indigenous women ‘overpoliced, underprotected’ in YK

Many unhoused Indigenous women in Yellowknife say they do not trust RCMP, have experienced police discrimination and feel powerless to hold officers accountable, according to a new report.

The Yellowknife Women’s Society released the report, titled Overpoliced and Underprotected, on Thursday. The document examines the relationship between unhoused Indigenous women and RCMP.

According to the report, its findings were informed by more than 30 Indigenous women who have experienced homelessness or precarious housing situations, who attended two sharing circles in October 2023. The women’s society also spoke with service providers, local leaders and RCMP members.

“Given the national conversations we’re having about policing and the RCMP, we wanted to really centre the lived experience and voices of unhoused Indigenous women,” said Neesha Rao, one of the report’s authors and a former executive director of the women’s society.

“The biggest takeaway is that the people who we gathered have had a high frequency of interactions with the RCMP – really throughout their entire lives, starting from when they were children – and the majority of those experiences have been negative.”

In a letter published within the report, Renee Sanderson, the society’s current executive director, wrote about witnessing “heart-wrenching” interactions in her brief time working as an RCMP auxiliary officer.

“It’s sad to see not much has changed,” she wrote. “The lack of compassion, education and improper use of words continues to be at the forefront.”

‘They’re the big guys and we’re the little guys’

At the sharing circles, Indigenous women said they were less likely to be believed by police than non-Indigenous residents and felt dehumanized by RCMP. Many reported experiencing or witnessing officers use slurs, unnecessary force or violence.

“Just seeing how rough the police are with people downtown … you know it’s just unnecessary for them to do that, [to be] that harsh,” one woman was quoted as saying.

“Because you’re an alcoholic, Indigenous … Because we’re homeless, we’re ‘street people,’ we’re garbage and that’s how they think,” another woman said.

A point-in-time count recorded 312 people experiencing homelessness in Yellowknife in 2021. Of those surveyed, 91.5 percent identified as Indigenous and half were women and girls.

More than 60 percent said at least one of their parents had attended residential school, while 19 percent said they attended residential school themselves.

The women’s society’s report attributed overpolicing of unhoused Indigenous women in Yellowknife partly to a lack of adequate social services. The report said a high police-to-civilian ratio, the visibility of being unhoused, and systemic discrimination against Indigenous people are also contributing factors.

“Right now, the RCMP are filling in as front-line service providers of services they should not be providing,” Rao said. “They are filling in mental health, they are filling in for shelter, they are sometimes filling in for short-term housing.”

The report said overpolicing increases the risk of experiencing harm and can lead to higher rates of criminalization and incarceration.

Meanwhile, the report said some women do not reach out for help from law enforcement when they need it because of past negative experiences.

“They’re there when you don’t need them. And when you need them, they’re nowhere around,” a participant was quoted as saying.

Many women said they did not feel it would be worth reporting police mistreatment, and some expressed fear of doing so. They highlighted an uneven power dynamic between themselves and RCMP.

“They’re the big guys and we’re the little guys, and how do we make those complaints that need to be made?” one woman said.

While the overwhelming majority of experiences women shared were negative, a few women also spoke about positive interactions with individual officers and the benefits of RCMP community outreach efforts. They said, however, there is high officer turnover and these interactions are inadequate to improve institutional trust without further changes.

The report referenced issues within the RCMP, including poor integration with local communities, a lack of institutional accountability and oversight, and a problematic management culture.

The report further said all levels of government had failed to hold the RCMP accountable for the safety of Indigenous women in Yellowknife.

While the NWT government has committed to change, the report said many responses were “modest or point to programs that existed before,” while NWT leaders spoken to for the report expressed a lack of meaningful control and influence over the RCMP.

While the RCMP is a federally regulated police force, both the NWT government and City of Yellowknife issue annual recommended priorities to detachments. In recent years, those priorities have included building and strengthening relationships with Indigenous communities.

‘A stepping-stone for change’

The report makes 24 recommendations for RCMP and various levels of government to improve the safety of unhoused Indigenous women in Yellowknife and decrease their interactions with police.

Recommendations include:

• improving social services, such as expanding the Street Outreach program, increasing the number of low-barrier emergency shelter spaces in Yellowknife, and providing Indigenous-led mental health, addictions and victims services in the territory;
• establishing an NWT police council with Indigenous co-governance;
• a comprehensive review of policing in the NWT;
• a permanent community safety program;
• improved RCMP training and recruitment; and
• enhanced RCMP accountability mechanisms.

“Although the RCMP is a federal organization, the Government of the Northwest Territories needs to take seriously its obligation to supervise – and not just supervise, but also articulate its vision for policing in Yellowknife and the territory in a way that will serve the community and those who are most likely to need the RCMP services,” Rao said.

Sanderson said she hopes the report will be used “as a stepping-stone for change.”

“Like a participant said in one of our sharing groups, it will be a darned shame if this report ends up on a shelf collecting dust,” she wrote.

Some efforts have been made to improve policing in the NWT.

The Dene Nation launched a two-year pilot program to address racism in policing. The NWT also began a community policing pilot program in Fort Liard in 2022 in an effort to bridge the gap between community safety needs and the role of RCMP.

Cabin Radio requested comment from NWT RCMP and the territorial Department of Justice. Both said they needed time to review the report before responding.

“The GNWT is committed to working collaboratively with Indigenous governments, communities, non-governmental organizations and the RCMP to ensure that policing services are responsive to the needs and concerns of NWT residents, and to explore opportunities to enhance community policing and improve public safety,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

Fraught history between Indigenous people, RCMP

This is not the first time that concerns have been raised regarding RCMP treatment of Indigenous people in the NWT.

When an unhoused Indigenous woman was sexually assaulted in downtown Yellowknife in 2017, officers held her in police cells overnight rather than taking her to the hospital. Judge Garth Malakoe criticized those actions, saying he was “unable to imagine circumstances which would justify this type of treatment of a victim of sexual assault.”

In 2018, a class action was launched alleging Indigenous people are regularly assaulted by RCMP in the North because of their ethnicity.

In May 2022, Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon-Armstrong spoke in the legislature about Tłı̨chǫ residents’ negative experiences with police, particularly Indigenous women. She highlighted incidents involving “racist remarks, aggressive handling, bullying and intimidation,” and said the RCMP complaints process was “burdensome” and not culturally sensitive.

Reports published by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls have stressed the need for measures to improve relations between police and Indigenous communities across Canada.

The women’s society’s report noted the relationship between Indigenous people and law enforcement has long been fraught, with officers participating in dog culling and forcing children to attend residential school. The RCMP has apologized for its role in the residential school system.

Sanderson said in a statement that “patterns of dysfunction and discrimination with police” continue to be a reality in Yellowknife. She said the report provides an opportunity for RCMP and governments to improve policing.