The RCMP has been at receiving end of the hide tanning stick for some time as it relates to policing efforts in Indigenous communities – some of it richly deserved.
There is a strong sense among many Indigenous citizens that rank and file officers don't care or, worse, hold them in complete contempt -- with holdover colonial, racist attitudes that remain entrenched in RCMP outposts throughout the North, populated mainly by non-indigenous officers. This sentiment was borne out in statement after statement in testimony heard during visits by the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Women and Girls.
This perception is the RCMP's burden to rectify. It will be difficult.
The Mounties didn't do themselves any favours in 2016 with its clumsy response to questions posed by former senator Nick Sibbeston, who suggested the RCMP appeared disinterested in information he was told about a potential suspect in the January 2014 death of Billy Cholo in Fort Simpson.
Sibbeston said himself and the person who told him about the suspect went to the RCMP in January 2015 but didn't hear back from them. The Mounties publicly refused to even acknowledge whether the tip was in fact followed up.
Naturally, there has been a lot of frustration in Fort Simpson about the lack of progress in solving the case. Police announced an arrest in 2017 but the person was released without a charge. Other than that, whatever has been going on in the investigation has been happening mostly behind the scenes.
That's why it was refreshing this month for the RCMP to humbly acknowledge the community's frustration while encouraging a grassroots sticker campaign to keep “Billy’s name and file in the minds of the citizens.” The RCMP admitted it's been a “challenging case,” while reiterating they believe “someone in the community has information and they have not yet brought it forward.”
The fact is, without witnesses and solid evidence, homicide investigations can be very tough to solve.
People can take comfort in the fact that the old adage about the RCMP always getting “their man,” is built on some truth – or at least the force's doggedness to close cases involving serious crime.
The death of Mary Rose Keadjuk has not yet been solved but RCMP did manage to put her name this year to some bone fragments found near Yellowknife in 2003. She had been missing for 28 years.
If anything, it's at least one example of RCMP not giving up on an old case.
Earlier this year, the territorial government announced the creation of a special missing and murdered persons unit to be staffed by two RCMP officers and one civilian. At present, there are 71 unsolved, historical cases of missing and murdered persons in the Northwest Territories.
Initiatives like these should be applauded, as well as acknowledged that bringing closure to these cases is no easy task.
RCMP must accept that trust with Indigenous communities will be difficult to build. An important step in that regard is showing that solving these cases remains a priority, as it has done recently with the Billy Cholo investigation.