The recommendation is the first
of 142 calls to action laid out in retired Superior Court justice
Jacques Viens’s 520-page report released Monday.
of 142 calls to action laid out in retired Superior Court justice
Jacques Viens’s 520-page report released Monday.
“The
unequal relations that have been established have deprived Indigenous
peoples of the means to allow them to fulfil their own destiny and have,
in the process, given a certain mistrust of public services,” Viens
said Monday in Val-d’Or, the northern mining community where it was
released.
In the report, Viens said it is “impossible to deny”
Indigenous people in Quebec are victims of “systemic discrimination” in
accessing public services.
He said improvements are needed
across the spectrum, including in policing, social services,
corrections, justice, youth protection and mental-health services, as
well as to the school curriculum to properly reflect the history of
First Nations and Inuit in the province.