Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard and Ghislain Picard, Regional Assembly of First Nations Chief of Quebec and Labrador, meet on Wednesday in Montreal.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
A meeting between Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard and Quebec aboriginal leaders has ended with the confirmation of an independent observer into allegations of police abuse of aboriginal women.
The government says lawyer Fannie Lafontaine will take on the independent observer role in regards to the Montreal police investigation into allegations of assault, sexual misconduct and other abuses of power against eight Quebec provincial police officers based in Val-d'Or, Que.
Couillard says a meeting with the chiefs of the Assembly of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador in Montreal today was a good first step.
The premier says the province will address relations between First Nations and police forces and took the opportunity to send a message to the incoming federal government that an expected inquiry into murdered and missing aboriginal women should tackle that issue too.
The investigation was triggered after a report by Radio-Canada on the alleged incidents over several years in Val-d'Or in northwestern Quebec.