Former Blood Tribe police chief pleads guilty to assault of former constable in Quebec

Former Blood Tribe police chief Brice Iron Shirt has pleaded guilty to assault after a former constable accused him of inappropriately touching her.

Former Blood Tribe police chief Brice Iron Shirt has pleaded guilty to assault.

This comes after a former Blood Tribe constable accused Iron Shirt of inappropriately touching her.

Iron Shirt served as chief of the Blood Tribe Police Service for just nine months before abruptly resigning in September 2022.

That came a month after a female constable filed a complaint with the police commission about Iron Shirt making unwanted sexual advances months earlier.

The commission did nothing about her concerns, but prosecutors in Quebec did.

Iron Shirt was charged with sexual assault in 2023 for an incident that occurred during the Aboriginal Police Chiefs Conference in Gatineau, Que., in May, 2022.

This spring, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault and was given an absolute discharge.

According to an agreed statement of facts, during a night out with colleagues, Iron Shirt made several unwanted physical advances toward the female officer.

He also touched her without her consent when they were alone.

The Quebec court ordered him to serve 20 hours of community service and make a $2,000 donation to the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

One expert questions the sentence.

“It’d be interesting to ask the Crown prosecutor why the Crown agreed to that. That’s a sexual assault, right? And the accused admitted to it in the agreed statement of facts,” said Tom Engel, chair of the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association’s policing committee.

In a statement to CTV News, Iron Shirt said, “I am relieved that this matter has been resolved without a criminal record, which will allow me to move forward with my life.”

In her impact statement to the court, the victim said, “You were gifted the trust of your people. You were entrusted with sacred teachings, with institutional power and with the hope of change. And you betrayed it all.”

She has also filed a human rights complaint against Iron Shirt, police, the commission and the First Nation.

But Engel says how the initial complaint was handled shows a lack of transparency.

“One of the main roles of a police commission is in relation to disciplinary matters, supervision of the chief. And oftentimes there are complaints that police commissions are too cozy with chiefs,” said Engel.

He also wonders whether there’s enough oversight of the police commission.

In a statement, the police commission says the service has reviewed and enhanced its training procedures, but it didn’t provide examples of what has changed.

In a statement, Blood Tribe Chief of Police Grant Buckskin says the “service is committed to providing a safe, healthy and productive environment to all its staff. Conduct that is offensive, intimidates or physically harms others are not tolerated.”