Eishia Hudson, an Ojibway member of Berens River First Nation, was killed after a police car chase in April 2020. (Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth – image credit)
More civilian investigators and improved diversity at police watchdogs could help address community distrust of police forces and their oversight agencies, an expert on systemic racism in policing said at the inquest into the death of Eishia Hudson, who was shot by police.
“The community wants to make sure that their voice is heard and trusted, and explored fairly,” Scot Wortley told the inquest into the death of 16-year-old Hudson, an Ojibway member of Berens River First Nation shot after a car chase in Winnipeg in April 2020.
“And unfortunately, for historical reasons, I think there’s a distrust in many communities that the police will do that in a totally objective way, and not be biased towards those who are also police officers.”
Creating a balance between trained civilian and police investigators on oversight agencies and ensuring those investigation teams include and highlight Indigenous people, for example, “has the potential to increase confidence,” Wortley told inquest Judge Margaret Wiebe on Wednesday.
During questioning by Danielle Morrison, counsel for Eishia’s family, Wortley was also asked about the fact that subject officers can’t be compelled to be interviewed by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, the province’s police watchdog.
“With respect to community perceptions, I think this is an example of what the community would perceive as preferential treatment of police witnesses and police actors versus how civilians would be treated,” he said.
An agreed statement of facts prepared for the inquest said the day she was killed, Eishia was driving a stolen Jeep when some of the other teens in the vehicle robbed a liquor store. One of those teens threatened to stab a security guard before the group took off.
Police started the pursuit after an employee reported the theft, describing the suspects as Indigenous youth, the agreed facts said.
The vehicle had been stolen the day before, after one of the other teens took the keys from the jacket of a worker at the teen’s group home. That teen went to Eisha’s house to meet up with her and a friend the morning of the police shooting.
During the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba’s probe into Eishia’s death, the officer who shot her declined to do an interview and instead provided notes and a prepared statement. The watchdog did not recommend charges against the officer in its final report.
Pushback from police lawyer
Wortley faced pushback from a Winnipeg police lawyer on Wednesday, after testifying a day earlier that racial stereotypes could have played a role in the police response that ended in Eishia’s death.
He agreed under cross-examination by Winnipeg Police Service lawyer Kimberly Carswell that a report he prepared for the inquest did not conclude definitively that there is systemic bias in the force.
Instead, Wortley said the limited data available on police use of force “suggests that it could be an issue — that it is an issue that has been identified by Indigenous and racialized communities, that the data available shows very significant racial disparities, that this warrants further monitoring and investigation.
“That’s the main theme or argument,” he said.
During re-examination by inquest counsel Dayna Steinfeld, Wortley said while he told Carswell he’d never testified on behalf of a police agency in court, he has been hired by policing agencies in other capacities.
In his testimony a day earlier, Wortley repeatedly stressed the importance of collecting better race-based policing data, and said the data that does exist suggests Indigenous people in Winnipeg and Manitoba are involved in a disproportionate number of deadly police force encounters.
He also was “struck” by the fact the officer who killed Eishia said he believed at the time that she was an Indigenous male youth, and that it was possible stereotypes enhanced the officer’s fear or perception of danger as he approached the scene.
That officer told the inquest that belief did not factor into his actions that day.
The inquest into Eishia’s death won’t assign blame but will look at whether systemic racism played a role and whether the use of force was appropriate.
It’s scheduled to continue until June.