Representing Indigenous Heritage within RCMP’s Ranks

As a move towards reconciliation within the RCMP, ribbon skirts have been added to the ceremonial uniform for Indigenous female, non-binary, and two-spirited officers as part of new uniform polices.

The Ribbon Skirt has a black base with four coloured ribbons which signify the four directions Indigenous teaching are based on.

The announcement came in the form a tweet on X from the RCMP’s Commissioner account.

“Today the RCMP officially announces the addition of the Ribbon Skirt to the RCMP uniform. The Ribbon Skirt, along with our Eagle Feather and Métis Sash, demonstrate the RCMP’s values of reconciliation, equity, diversity, and inclusion.”

The announcement was meet with a wave of criticism from the Indigenous community with evening calling it “Cultural Appropriation” and others saying the officer in the photo is not Indigenous.

However, the move to incorporate the skirts was internally led by Indigenous women who currently serve in the RCMP who wanted to show their heritage and represent the communities they serve.

In the province of Alberta, the RCMP serves 80 per cent of the Indigenous communities as their primary Police Service apart from the Tsuut’ina Police Service and the Blood Tribe Police Service who both work alongside the RCMP.

CFWE spoke with RCMP Inspector K. Mueller of Mikisew Cree Frist Nation about how the skirts are a step forward within the RCMP.

The internal process was consulted with Indigenous Elders who work with the RCMP who had advised that the skirts where to be only worn by Indigenous female, non-binary, and two-spirited identifying officers.

For members of the Tosguna Tsuu’tina Police Service, Ribbon Skirts are worn during for all functions Tosguna attends including with their ceremonial uniform.

The skirts were adopted by the Service in 2020 after a community funeral in 2019 where Tsuut’ina Elders noted that the western uniforms were found to be intimidating especially during moments of celebration, grief, and ceremony.

Male officers were also included with the adoption as special hide vests were made for the male officers and ribbon skirts for female officers, all of which have been made by members of the community they serve.

In a statement to CFWE, Tosguna Tsuut’ina Police Service says,

“It is extremely important that any service that is attempting to adopt ribbon skirts and other cultural attire, ensure they have done the proper community consultation and given permission to represent the communities they serve in such a way. We are thankful that our community has provided us a path to do so appropriately.”

While many police services across Canada have been making amends with Indigenous communities they serve, there is still a deep mistrust of Police in the Indigenous Community.

This is because of the role the RCMP had played with residential schools, sixties scoop, and mistreatment of Indigenous peoples throughout the history of Canada.

When the announcement was made on social media, many in the Indigenous community were outraged because of the generational harm these agencies have caused.