Nunavut’s new police oversight legislation will still rely on southern investigators

Nunavut justice officials say they’ve tweaked new policing legislation with the goal of creating culturally relevant and accessible police oversight in the territory.

But it’s going to take time to get there, officials say.

Bill 53, an Act to Amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Agreement Act, received its second reading in the legislative assembly last week.

The bill introduces provisions to allow for independent investigations to look at police-involved civilian injuries or deaths in Nunavut, as well as the terms to create such a body.

But the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Justice said it wasn’t prepared to shut the door on third-party police force investigations, which will still be an option, as per the new legislation.

Currently, the territory has an agreement to call on police forces in both Ottawa and Calgary to investigate incidents involving Nunavut RCMP, and that could continue to be the case for some time.

“We had clear direction that Nunavummiut wanted us to move forward with police oversight,” said Stephen Mansell, deputy minister of justice.

“I think the goal for everyone is to have civilian oversight for all incidents involving the RCMP, but there’s going to have to be a transition,” he said.

“We’re actively looking at civilian oversight options. We wanted to make sure we had the option to use those very competent services … while we’re getting our own civilian oversight services up and running.”

In the case where an outside police force is retained to investigate incidents in Nunavut, the legislation would allow for the hiring of a civilian monitor to oversee the work of a police service and ensure the investigation is impartial.

The bill creates a new position to ensure that Inuit and community-based knowledge are considered as part of the investigative work, through the role of the cultural advisor.

Mansell said both of those roles are still to be developed, but would require individuals who have an understanding of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, as well as knowledge of the community that’s the focus of the investigation and of law enforcement practices.

In drafting the new legislation, the department reviewed police oversight models from other jurisdictions across the country that use civilian bodies: British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Yukon.

Mansell said the new legislation drew on aspects of legislation in Manitoba, Yukon and Alberta.

In fact, the department has already been in discussion with Alberta’s oversight body, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, to lead investigations in Nunavut going forward.

“The community-based model that they use is very good,” Mansell said. “They have a lot of experience working in Indigenous communities.”

“We haven’t closed the door on a made-in-Nunavut solution and our department will keep working on that goal longer term.”

The legislation would mandate a new investigative body to produce a report but doesn’t suggest whether and how those findings would be made public.

Mansell said the amount of information that would be disseminated will be part of an agreement the Nunavut government drafts with the investigator.

“We’ve heard from Nunavummiut that they want to understand the results of these investigations,” he said. “And we’ve been working with our partners in the Ottawa Police Service to ensure that the results of these investigations are more readily available.

“The department is in favour of the public knowing the results of these investigations, while also keeping in mind we want to respect the privacy of individuals and families.”

The Nunavut government expects the legislation to be passed in the legislative assembly’s winter session, scheduled for February 2021.