Quebec police put on leave over aboriginal sex assault claims

Eight Canadian police officers suspected of sexually assaulting and beating aboriginal women have been put on leave or transferred to administrative duty, officials in Quebec province said Friday.

The officers had previously remained on duty despite the allegations, which were first made in May.

Quebec's Public Safety Minister Lise Theriault said she was "shaken" by the "troubling, shocking and unacceptable" facts, the details of which were made public Thursday in an investigation by broadcaster Radio-Canada.

That report said provincial police routinely picked up women from Algonquin communities near the rural town of Val-d'Or, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) northwest of Montreal, and forced them to perform sex acts.

Some were paid in cash or drugs. If they refused, the women said they were physically assaulted or left in remote areas, their mobile phones broken, to walk home in the cold.

Theriault said Montreal police had taken over the inquiry, which was launched in May on an internal basis, "out of a concern for transparency."

"Let me be clear: If there is a basis for these criminal allegations, the wrongdoers will face the courts," the minister added, who shed a few tears during the press conference.

A ninth officer suspected of wrongdoing has since died.

Theriault also named a female officer as the new head of police in Val-d'Or, overseeing a force of about 60 people.

The allegations add to growing concerns over violence against native women across Canada.

Federal police have counted about 1,200 unsolved cases of missing or killed aboriginal women between 1980 and 2012 in Canada, and native leaders and activists have been calling for an inquiry for more than a decade.

Outgoing prime minister Stephen Harper had long resisted calls for an inquiry, saying the disproportionate number of deaths and disappearances in native communities resulted from domestic violence.

But during his electoral campaign, Prime Minister-elect Justin Trudeau vowed to open a national probe.

"Choosing not to act means being an accomplice to cultural genocide against indigenous communities," said Edith Cloutier, executive director of the Native Friendship Center in Val-d'Or.

"A national tragedy is taking place on our doorstep," she added, saying the women who had broken their silence were "terrified" and feared reprisals.
Source: AFP