Saskatoon police lay out plan to move forward on reconciliation — with accountability to stay on track

Each goal includes a series of actions to take, a key leader identified and a timeline.

Published Dec 27, 2023 • Last updated 8 hours ago • 3 minute read

Saskatoon Police Station in Saskatoon, Saturday, September, 12, 2020. Kayle Neis/Saskatoon StarPhoenix Photo by Kayle Neis /Regina Leader-Post

The Saskatoon Police Service says it is planning to reallocate resources internally in 2024 to act on commitments outlined in an action plan on Truth, Reconciliation and Treaty Implementation.

Saskatoon police’s deputy chief of support services Dave Haye and Rhett Sangster, director of reconciliation and community partnerships with the Office of the Treaty Commissioner, presented the action plan to the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners at its most recent meeting.

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When asked by Mayor Charlie Clark, who is also a board commissioner, what the board’s role in this plan could be, Haye asked them to hold the police service accountable to stay on track.

“There are many, many pressures on any organization, and when we introduce something new, it’s very easy to slide back. So, I would ask you to hold our collective organization accountable to this,” Haye said.

Staff with police and the treaty commissioner’s office began working on the plan last year in response to national calls, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Calls for Justice.

Coun. Hilary Gough, a board commissioner, called the goals thorough, ambitious and practical. Board chair Jyotsna (Jo) Custead said the goals are all achievable and very realistic.

Out of that work, recommendations were made in six categories: policy review, reform and strategic planning; services and accessibility; capacity building; collaboration and engagement; communication; and evaluation and accountability.

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Specific goals include bolstering the force’s strategy to increase Indigenous staff, advocating for transparency with the public complaints procedures, ensuring all new employees receive education about treaties and the historical relationship between Indigenous peoples and policing, and expanding the force’s capacity to offer services and materials in Indigenous languages.

“Officers on the street who go through the education, who become part of the learning journey and they approach victims of crime, understanding that a victim is more than just the person standing in front of you today, they have a whole history behind them. So we can be more thoughtful in our approach,” Haye said after the meeting.

“Having an understanding of that and the trauma people have gone through lets us be more compassionate as we perform our duty, however that duty looks.”

Haye said police will have mechanisms they’ll develop or enhance as part of the process, such as the ability to divert people from court. Through this process, he said, police will be better educated and able to speak more from a trauma-informed point of view.

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Sangster told the StarPhoenix the report includes many mechanisms for accountability, such as recommendations to report annually to the public and to the police board.

“Accountability is at the heart of these recommendations. If we don’t have that accountability, I don’t think we’ll have the same amount of action, so I think that crucially important,” Sangster said.

Haye said police have taken part in a mapping exercise with the Office of the Treaty Commissioner to gauge progress on the path to reconciliation. That can be done again, to see where to “point ourselves” next, Haye said.

“That’s the beauty of this relationship and the process we have in place,” Haye added. “We can keep renewing it as often as we need to until we’re in a place where we’re comfortable and we’ve started achieving our goals.”

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