By Teena Monteleone

Police chief says diversity within service is improving, but work in progress

Feb 17, 2017 | 1:00 PM

Overall, the Prince Albert Police Service is more diverse than it has ever been, but that may not be as evident on the street. 

“Where we are challenged is with the face of policing in our uniformed officers. We are less gender diverse in that area but our communication operators and record managers, for example, are all female,” Chief Troy Cooper explained.

In the police service, women make up 36 percent of the workforce overall where 37 percent of officers identify as Indigenous or Metis. Visible minorities make up roughly four percent of employees and 1.3 percent of staff are considered disabled.

“For us, the idea of affirmative action is important, but diversity is seen as having real value aside from employment equity,“ Cooper said. “We understand that a diverse organization is better at solving some of the complex problems we have in the city because they can see issues from different perspectives.”

The police service is meeting equity goals set out by the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission (SHRC) when it comes to employment of First Nation and Metis people, but it falls short in other categories. The SHRC suggests a workforce of at least 14 percent Indigenous people. That number jumps to 35 per cent in the north of province, which includes Prince Albert. Visible minorities should make up 11 per cent of the provincial workforce, 46 per cent of women in under-represented occupations and 12.4 percent individuals with a disability.

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Chief Commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, David Arnott, said the targets are based on demographics in the provincial population.

“We want to see a representative workforce of all that diversity, so people have opportunities for employment to contribute to the overall economy of the province,” he said.

The City of Prince Albert is one of roughly 60 employers and school divisions listed as ‘employment equity sponsors’ with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission.

Arnott said, “We work with them to find best practices. They are aspirational goals and not binding. Some are achieving them and some aren’t. The whole thing is they are committed to trying.”

The city of Prince Albert currently employs roughly 750 people including Fire, Police, Emergency Communication Centre staff, City Hall staff, seasonal workers and all city facility staff. Of those 750 employees, 305 (40.67%) are female, 142 are Indigenous (18.93%), 25 (3.33%) are visible minorities and 10 (1.33%) have a disability. Director of Corporate Services, Angela Boyes, said, “The statistics are likely underreported because new employees fill out a voluntary self-declaration form.”

As one of the city’s largest employers, the health region is also working to improve diversity in its workforce. Currently, 21 per cent of employees within the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region identify as being Indigenous or Metis, while 10 per cent are visible minorities and 9 per cent are considered disabled.

Chief Cooper said, within the police service, diversity is a constant priority. The service has used Indigenous recruitment strategies in the past and partnered with Metis organizations including Gabriel Dumont Institute and Metis Women’s Association. He said extra effort is made to ensure the police service is active culturally in the community by attending various events.

“We are more diverse than we have ever been,” he said. “So, there is success. But if we don’t make it a priority, we will start to fall behind.”

teena.monteleone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TeenaMonteleone