Reporters gathered at the Regina Police Headquarters on Monday afternoon following the release of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Chief Evan Bray was on hand to give his reaction and thoughts to the report and to take questions from the media. No formal statement was prepared by the police chief for the conference, but he did begin his statement by saying it isn’t “an easy read”, and that RPS will be taking the appropriate steps to work with the report.
“Our police service, along with police services across Saskatchewan, have been committed to the MMIWG inquiry throughout the entire process, and we continue to show that commitment as we now move forward with recommendations and how that looks for policing,” said Bray
The 1,200-page report covers over three years of dedicated work, a number of community meetings and the participation from more than 2,000 Canadians into the inquiry of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
The document, which was introduced at a ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec on Monday morning with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in attendance, also includes 231 “calls for justice”.
While the report provides coverage from coast to coast, Bray indicated that locally they’re aiming to work diligently at both improving and continuing to create connections with people in their community.
“I think relationship is foundational to policing. So if we don’t have a relationship where our community trusts us, then we do have a breakdown,” admitted Bray. “I’ll be the first to acknowledge that we’ve gone through challenges in terms of relationships in our community, but there have been some positive things that have happened in terms of relationship building and trust.”
He added how RPS embraces the commitment of the MMIWG committee into the report and hopes this work will help build a better justice system and police services throughout the nation.