Programs aims to heal divide between Indigenous women and police

By PHILOMENA OKOLO

In the wake of the 34th annual Women’s Memorial March advocates say that despite ongoing issues with discrimination, police in Vancouver are trying to mend their relationship with Indigenous people.  

Sandra DeLorme, a 56 year-old residential day school survivor, said she began going to the march to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women in her early twenties and has been going ever since. 

She said a friend told her, “There’s a whole bunch of ladies that are going missing. We’re going to stop at each site that they found their bodies. I said, OK, let’s go.” 

Broken relationships

Delorme, who works at a shelter in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, said her community does not have a good relationship with the police because they are not offered meaningful support when they reach out to law enforcement.  

Lorelei Williams, founder of the Butterflies in Spirit dance group, said officers from the Vancouver Police Department told her there was nothing they could do when she reported a man threatening to kill her.  

Williams told police she worked with the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre and the SisterWatch Committee, adding “I know there’s something that can be done.” She said the officers came back “and they were like, ‘OK, we can do something about it.’ But I had to pull those cards out. I always have to.”  

Williams said the initial reaction from the police officers made her feel like she did not matter as an Indigenous person.  

Tabitha Frank, the women’s support coordinator at the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre, said that despite her niece being killed by police during a wellness check in 2020, continuing her work at the policing centre is vital to mend the gap between Indigenous people and the police. “The community trusts us when we do the work and I decided to stay because if we don’t stand up for our women, who will?” 

Circles of understanding

Frank noted the Circles of Understanding, an initiative by the policing centre to bring awareness to the continued and historical oppression of the Indigenous population. She said this program has been beneficial to new police recruits. “I feel like it’s changing the way that policing is happening,” she said. “They’re having a bit of understanding of why Indigenous people are the way they are now and why they’re so triggered by the uniform.” 

Frank said she hopes within the next five years Indigenous people will start trusting the system, noting the older generation of police officers do not have the same understanding because they did not receive training from the policing centre. 

Jacqueline Michell, the policing centre’s executive director, said she is seeing progress in their collaborations with the VPD. Although she still takes extra precautions as an Indigenous woman living in Canada, she said she applauds the efforts made by the police. “They’re really taking our feedback. I think that’s interesting that they’re hearing us and that they’re implementing the changes.” 

VPD media relations officer Steve Addison said the department investigates more than 5,000 missing person’s cases every year with a solve rate of 99.9 per cent. Addison said of the 5,400 cases investigated in 2024, only five cases remain unsolved.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on February 26th, 2025