Advisory groups tasked with helping EPS serve racialized, queer communities better

Three councils will be guiding Edmonton Police Service in how to better serve marginalized communities. 

On Friday, the service introduced:

• the Nîsohkamâkewin Council, which started work a year ago on addressing the inequities and barriers facing Indigenous people;
• the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Council, whose focus will be to implement feedback from the queer community;
• and the Chief's Community Council, which will advise on policy changes. 

Nîsohkamâkewin (pronounced neeso-kamak-whin) is a Cree word that means "art of helping." 

"I think it's more proactive than just solving problems," Chief Dale McFee said of the plan to hear from more people in the community and related fields. 

"There's really only two things that matter in the human services system: reducing the intake, which means keeping people out of the systems, and then making sure every off ramp works … [What] we need to try to do with our communities is reduce the intake into the justice system, and that's done through relationships."

EPS has been advised by such groups before. However, the leaders of the new councils say the redesigned system will be more effective in that it will be ongoing. Previous work was done "point in time," often to serve things like the development of the police chief's apology to the queer community, or for the EPS Commitment to Action Community Feedback Report, they said. 

McFee recalled how much he learned through the commitment to action report. 

"What else don't we know about? Because what we don't need to do is follow the social media that's all over the map. I need real people that are involved in the situations," he commented.

"We were waiting for people to report incidents when we weren't going out and seeking what those incidents and issues were," explained Todd Herron, co-chair of the SOGIE Council. 

"By having the more meaningful conversations with the more marginalized members of our community, we can show a different face of the Edmonton Police Service to them as a community service, rather than just as a strongarm enforcement service."

Some change has already happened: new EPS recruits take unconscious bias training and spend time working at non-profit partners (without their gun and uniform). McFee calls EPS' Community and Safety Well-Being Bureau – which received millions from the police budget to divert people who need social supports from the criminal justice system – the first of its kind in the world. And he has signed Edmonton up to work with Statistics Canada on more detailed reporting of race and ethnicity data. 

The council positions are all volunteer roles. 

And there is no formal accountability structure; McFee said EPS would be able to prove its progress by pointing to the recommendations – from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for example – it can check off at the end of the year. 

Zaki Hirabe, one of the leaders of the Chief's Community Council, said he was very optimistic about the work he and his colleagues could accomplish because McFee has been open to hearing "hard truths." 

"It always starts from top to bottom. And when I see the chief being open to finding improvements and being vulnerable with the community… that was a great sign."

Members of the public can share feedback online or join an upcoming session with McFee on March 22. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Carlyle Fiset