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The provincial government is continuing its support of a special unit that investigates police complaints from Indigenous citizens.
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations’ (FSIN) Special Investigation Unit (SIU) will receive an operating grant of $88,000 from the provincial government this year to continue its work, the Ministry of Justice announced Wednesday.
Since its inception in 2001, the SIU has received and followed up on complaints from Indigenous residents of Saskatchewan who are alleging police misconduct.
The group offers support to the complainants through the process after forwarding their complaints to the Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission and Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP.
The partnership between the SIU and the government was formalized in 2005, when the unit was officially added to The Police Act.
Dutch Lerat, FSIN’s second vice-chief, praised the special unit and its work.
“The FSIN’s Special Investigation Unit is a tremendous asset for our First Nations as it provides a compassionate, culturally sensitive service to First Nations people and allows access to due process when our people feel aggrieved by justice system actors,” Lerat said in a statement.
“The unit was derived from the inquiry into the death of Neil Stonechild, where we saw a commitment from the Saskatchewan Government to support our efforts to address systemic racism experienced by our people.”
Bronwyn Eyre, Saskatchewan’s justice minister, said the partnership has helped ensure complaints are taken seriously and investigated without bias.
“For the past 20 years, the partnership between the Government of Saskatchewan and the FSIN has provided a culturally sensitive means of submitting complaints about law enforcement,” Eyre said in a statement.
