SQ Abuse: Women Break the Silence

This story began as an investigation into the disappearance of Cindy Ruperthouse, an aboriginal woman from the Abitibi region in Quebec. She had been missing from the town of Val d’Or for over a year when we began looking into her story. The police investigation seemed stalled and Ruperthouse’s parents believed investigators were not taking the case very seriously. The more we looked into it, the more questions we had about the case and the police investigation or lack thereof. And the more we dug, the more troubling stories began to emerge about the way some police officers in the town of Val d’Or were treating aboriginal women. We heard Priscillia, Bianca, Angela and others describe the fear they feel everyday from those who are supposed to protect them. Not just the infamous starlight tours where police would drop women off far out of town, even in the dead of winter, but also violence, abuse, prostitution etc. Priscillia had filed police abuse complaints to the SQ twice in three years, and had received no response. It wasn’t until we started investigating these stories that police suddenly took an interest and contacted her.