Police technician program designed for Indigenous communities coming to northern CEGEPs

MONTREAL — Two CEGEPs are partnering up to offer a police techniques program designed for Indigenous communities, allowing northern students, some them Indigenous themselves, to train for police jobs while staying close to home.

The partnership between the CEGEP de L'Abitibi-Temiscamingue and CEGEP de Baie-Comeau will launch in the 2021 fall semester, the result of three years of work to obtain authorization.

It's the second partnership bteween the two CEGEPs, as last year the Val-d'Or campus of the CEGEP de L'Abitibi-Temiscamingue enabled CEGEP de Baie-Comeau to obtain a pre-hospital emergency care program to train ambulance workers.

“These partnerships diversify our program map, which allows students from the North Shore to stay in the region to study,” said CEGEP de Baie-Comeau Director Claude Montigny.

“Here, we have nine Indigenous communities, five of which have their own police stations. Our graduates will be well-equipped when they return to work in the region.”

The provisional authorization allows the CEGEP de Baie-Comeau to train three classes of 20 students each, all sponsored by CEGEP de L'Abitibi-Temiscamingue.

“Our two regions have many similar characteristics,” said the director of CEGEP de L'Abitibi-Temiscamingue, Sylvain Blais.

“We also share the same realities and we are happy to share our expertise.”

Jean-Marie Vollant, chief of the Pessamit community, said he was excited about the program.

“In the past, we've experienced some unfortunate events due to the lack of understanding of First Nations' realities,” he said. “We therefore support this new program, which we hope will help spread awareness.”

The two CEGEPs will offer updated training in the wake of the Viens Commission and Commission of Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

Former commissioner Michelle Audette praised the openness shown by the two schools.

“It's important that police officers who serve the region have a better understanding of our values, our culture and our ways of doing things,” she said. “In addition, we will train police officers who speak our language, which will fill the gap that sometimes exists.”

The program will include an Indigenous awareness program but not necessarily courses related to Indigenous culture.

“Students are familiar with these realities since most of them come from them,” said Isabelle Coursol, a police technician at the Rouyn-Noranda campus.

“That and the fact they speak the language of the community will equip them to defuse certain situations.”

This report was first published by The Canadian Press on Aug. 27, 2020.