THUNDER BAY -- While both police and Fist Nations agree that a recent meeting was productive, they’re waiting until Friday to discuss their next steps.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation members met with several police organizations Tuesday at the Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters to debrief after a public safety forum last week.
The forum was held after several racially motivated assaults were allegedly committed in the city.
“We’re outlining some solid recommendations that will help us move forward. We don’t want to give the impression to the public that this was just a one-time meeting,” NAN deputy grand chief Alvin Fiddler said.
Fiddler said he wants the community to know that NAN takes the issue of public safety very seriously.
They are releasing a report with recommendations Friday on how to address that issue and what the next steps should be. Trust between First Nations and the police is a big first step.
“Especially between the youth of First Nations communities and the police,” Fiddler said. “How do we rebuild that relationship? How do we rebuild that trust?”
Police chief J.P. Levesque said getting to the table to talk shows improvement.
“Clearly there is some relationship building that needs to done between the First Nations community and the Thunder Bay police,” he said.
Social media was another big topic of discussion at the table. Levesque said leaders from all organizations are faced with the same challenge of watching rumour spread over the internet. It’s not always easy to verify certain events, especially if they’re not reported to the police.
“You need to take that information with a bit of a grain of salt,” he said.
As for the alleged events, Levesque said they are ongoing investigations so he couldn’t comment.
