New report slams RCMP treatment of homeless Indigenous women in Northwest Territories

The organization held two sessions with women last October, and every single participant said she either experienced abuse by an RCMP officer or knew an Indigenous person who had.

Renee Sanderson, the executive director of the Yellowknife Women's Society, said these experiences along with a broad distrust of the RCMP have real-world consequences.

The report describes the RCMP as a force that is "left to police itself" due to current practices and a lack of resources for the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.

The force's predecessor, the North West Mounted Police, became one of the earliest non-Indigenous arrivals in the region in 1873, mandated to impose "law and order" and assert Canadian sovereignty.

The finding echoes the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which noted that for many Indigenous children, their first encounter with the justice system came when an RCMP officer took them to residential school.

The society recommends increasing the number of shelter spaces and the capacity of mobile crisis response teams to help limit the interactions between police and homeless Indigenous women.