On a police board, ethnic representation matters

As Manitoba's new governing party, Brian Pallister's Progressive Conservatives can and should be expected to shake up the makeup of various public boards and committees.

In early May, within weeks of the provincial election, the Tories replaced Manitoba Hydro's NDP-appointed board with a group of its own choosing. The following week, the PCs disassembled and reassembled the boards of two other Crown corporations, Manitoba Public Insurance and Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries.

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These boards now include several people who can be described as loyal PC supporters. FormerToryKeewatinook candidate Edna Nabesssits onthe MPI board, former provincial party leader Stu Murray and MLA Mavis Taillieuhelp direct Liquor & Lotteries and past party donors sit on both of these boards.

There's nothing unusual about such appointments, as political parties onlyappoint people they know and trust to boards. The fact that manyof the new Crown-corporation board appointees are well-known and highly accomplished Manitoba citizens alsohelps to blunt anycriticism of partisan appointments.

No credible critic, for example, would question the qualifications ofManitoba Hydro's newboard chair,philanthropistand Richardson Financial CEO Sandy Riley, or thoseof new Liquor & Lotteries board chair Polly Craik, an entrepreneurwho once led CentreVenture's board.

In other words, the Tories are capable ofinstalling new Crown corporation boards that are both qualified and partisan. But while this may work for the Crowns, itmaynot be effectiveas a one-size-fits-all strategy.

On July 6, thePallister government chose to replace the two provincial appointees on the Winnipeg Police Board. Gone are two NDP appointees, Indigenous inner-city activist Leslie Spillett and retired educator Angela Ramkissoon. In their places, the Tories appointed former provincial PC and federal Conservative candidate Allie Szarkiewicz and businessperson Larry Licharson.

The net result of thechanges made before the end of Spillett and Ramkissoon's terms is there is now one fewer Indigenous person on the Winnipeg Police Board.

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This is not justa matter of numbers. The police board oversees the Winnipeg Police Service, a municipal department of disproportionately large importance to the city's Indigenous community.

Compared to Winnipeg's overall population, Winnipeg's Indigenous residents are more likely to live in less safe neighbourhoods and thus are more likely to require the services of the police, who are also atthe forefrontof the city's reconciliation efforts.

In recent years, Winnipeg'spolice changed its "serve and protect" mission into a "building relationships" motto that's emblematic of a more inclusive approach topolicing. As well, former chief Devon Clunis' acknowledgement of the effects of centuries of colonialism went a long way toward improving relations between the police and the Indigenous community.

So when the province reducedthe Indigenous representation on the board overseeing the police, the move was not viewed on a solely symbolic basis. Thereare fears fewer Indigenous perspectiveson the board will result in less attention paid to the concerns of Indigenous Winnipeggers.

So far, the Pallistergovernmentseems unwilling or unable to acknowledge this. Asked to comment on their changes to the police board, the Progressive Conservatives would only release a statement from Justice Minister Heather Stefanson,highlighting the qualifications of new board appointees Szarkiewicz and Licharson.

In an interview, Szarkiewiczsuggested police-board members need not be Indigenous to advocate for First Nations, Mtis and InuitWinnipeggers.

"Just because I'm white doesn't mean I'm not going to be a strong voice for the people of Winnipeg, Indigenous included," shesaid.

"I'm very familiar with poverty and the struggle that new Canadians and or Aboriginal [people] or any person goes through," she added, noting shegrewup as an immigrant in the North End."I can honestly say, 'Been there done that.'"

The notion that non-Indigenous Canadianscan advocate just as effectively for the Indigenous community probablycomes from a noble place, but it's not realistic, considering the country'shistory of colonialism and paternalism.

Less Indigenous representation alsoruns contrary to Mayor Brian Bowman's efforts to promote reconciliation in Winnipeg, which continues to suffer from ethnic divisions.

Asked how a whiter police board promotes reconciliation, Bowman was reduced to pointing out the province has the power tofill its two positions on the board however it likes.

Police board chairman Scott Gillingham, the councillor for St. James-Brooklands, took a similar tack, butalso noted the board is advised by an Indigenous advisory council.

It's possible some members of the new government on Broadway viewissues of inclusion and representation as nothing more than political correctness. True enough, you don't have to be Indigenous to care about Indigenous people.

But to reduce Indigenous representation on the police board, without comment or explanation, is at best an invitation for criticism. At worst, it's a political miscalculation from a Progressive Conservative partythat largely avoided courting similar controversyduring itssuccessful spring election campaign.