OttawaCalls for increased Indigenous police officers were a central focus of the first Indigenous Recruitment Forum held by the Ottawa Police Service earlier this week. OPS partners with 4 First Nations police services for 2-day eventLiam Baker · CBC News · Posted: Nov 06, 2025 12:05 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Supt. Jamie Dunlop spoke at the Ottawa Police Service’s Indigenous Recruitment Forum earlier this week. (Liam Baker/CBC)Calls for more Indigenous police officers in the nation’s capital were a central focus of the first-ever Indigenous Recruitment Forum by the Ottawa Police Service this week.The two-day forum, which wrapped up Wednesday evening, included keynote speakers from First Nations police services and former and aspiring police officers.“When we look at the history of Canada and Indigenous peoples with policing, and specifically residential schools and the RCMP taking Indigenous children away to these schools, I believe these types of panels and events are extremely important to help show there is change happening,” said Bethany Stewart, a panelist who’s in the process to become an Ottawa police officer.Stewart, who is a member of the Cree Nation of Wemindji, said she was inspired to apply to become a police officer, specifically around human trafficking, as her birth mother is among the many missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.The forum came on the heels of recent Assembly of First Nations (AFN) calls for the creation of more First Nations police services and for a national inquiry into an increased number of deaths of Indigenous peoples while in police custody in 2024.For the event, the OPS partnered with four Indigenous police services: the Anishinabek Police Service, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, the Tyendinaga Police Service and the UCCM Anishnaabe Police Service.Need for more Indigenous police servicesOfficers at the event discussed the need for more funding to Indigenous police services within communities, according to OPS Supt. Jamie Dunlop, who is Métis and acted as a keynote speaker at the event. “They are great police officers with very caring service and they need to have funding that’s on par with any other police service in this province,” Dunlop said.In recent years, the OPS has made plans to address its own policing of Indigenous people, announcing in 2023 they were looking to create an Indigenous unit within their ranks. At the time, about six per cent of members said they were Indigenous.Ottawa’s police services board heard over the summer that Ottawa police are working to hire an Indigenous women’s safety advisor and Indigenous liaison officers.Partnerships, like those that led to Wednesday’s event, are important to improving perceptions that Indigenous people within Ottawa may have of the city’s police service, says Anishinabek Police Service Sgt. Chantal Larocque.“This was an opportunity for me to present our police service … as an option, but also to help Ottawa police who have the best of intentions to repair that relationship with Indigenous people,” Larocque said. “If you can show Indigenous people that you’re working with Indigenous police services, it’s showing an intent to want to change that legacy.”Although the turnout of Indigenous people at Wednesday’s event wasn’t as high as Dunlop had hoped, he said he hopes the event shows the greater need to understand Indigenous culture amongst his service’s ranks. Stewart said her family history of negative police interactions continues to drive her desire to become a police officer.“That’s a big reason why, for me, it’s important to get Indigenous peoples within police to help with those barriers that we’re facing.”ABOUT THE AUTHORLiam Baker is an associate producer and reporter for CBC Ottawa. He also reports and produces stories on Inuit Nunangat for CBC Iqaluit. Previously, he’s reported for CBC Yukon, CBC Thunder Bay, CBC Toronto’s Enterprise unit. You can reach him at liam.baker@cbc.ca
Ottawa police looks to increase Indigenous applicants with first dedicated recruitment forum
