Police training on Indigenous issues takes days, not hours, retired OPP officer says – CBC

Sep 15, 2016

‘There’s usually a wall on the first day,’ says cultural awareness trainer George Couchie

Police officers are generally resistant to training on Indigenous issues at first, says cultural awareness trainer and retired OPP Sgt. George Couchie.

“There’s usually a wall on the first day when they feel they’re going to be attacked,” Couchie said. “It almost takes a whole day to convince them to admit, ‘yeah, I should be here.”

His comments come after the facilitator of a race relations session with Thunder Bay police alleges she was verbally assaulted during the training. Police say she misinterpreted the reaction of the officers.

Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/police-training-indigenous-issues-1.3762000