The City of Regina announced they will be adding two private citizen seats to its Board of Police Commissioners, but they voted against changing the rules to require them to be Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC).
Council argued that by being too descriptive, they may discourage other minority groups from wanting to join.
Mayor Michael Fougere says council wants to encourage people of minority to join the board and being too descriptive may hinder that.
“I think the flavour of the discussion was just don’t miss anyone, let’s make sure that we have the right kind of individual that comes in,” said Fougere. “We have white people on there already. The (police) act says one person must be Indigenous, this report says at least one must be Indigenous. That answers the question about a very important element of our community that needs to be represented and understood and helped along in ways.”
Fougere adds they want to make sure they don’t miss people of colour, and non-visible minorities like the LGTBQ+ community.
“When we become too descriptive, we may miss other people too,” said Fougere. “We want more women and that wasn’t accounted for as well. I think some members are trying to be descriptive to make sure we get everyone, and I think council came down to let’s just leave it open, because we know what we’re doing. We will look at this as a council and as a board of police, we’ll make sure that we have the right people on those commissions that come forward.”
Fougere says it’s important to expand the role of private citizens on the Board of Police Commissioners to make sure there is true civilian oversight.
