Funding for Indigenous police forces, cultural training for provincial police forces and improved social services and housing are among the many recommendations made as the Viens Commission held its final public hearing Friday in Val d’Or.

The commission was created in the wake of allegations police misconduct against Indigenous women that came to light in 2015 and has travelled throughout the province over the last 38 weeks.

Commissioners heard more than 1,000 stories and expert opinions and they all focused on some aspect of the fraught relationship between Indigenous peoples in Quebec and certain public services.

The chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Ghislain Picard, testified for the fourth time Thursday, presenting his recommendations on access to United Nations mechanisms.

On Friday, the session started with presentations from the Grand Council of the Crees, which offered about 40 recommendations covering police, justice, health, and social services.

Among them: Quebec should address the criminalization of homeless Indigenous people, attack the problem of Indigenous homelessness by solving their housing crisis, change the police model from repressive to one that builds relationships, end the culture of police impunity, and improve oversight.

It also called on the province to acknowledge systemic racism in the Sureté du Quebec, and expand services in shelters to combat violence and sexual exploitation against women.

The lawyer for the Grand Council of the Crees, John Hurley, said that while the commission was created because of allegations of violence and sexual abuse by SQ officers in Val d'Or, people living in cities should take note of what's happening in their own backyard.

"Recent weeks have seen extensive media coverage of systemic police racism and misconduct towards indigenous persons and other racial minorities in Montreal, Toronto, and elsewhere in Canada. These reports show very troubling parallels with police racism in Val d'Or and Quebec heard by this commission," said Hurley.

The commission also got another taste of the kinds of abuse and suffering the indigenous witnesses described.

Melissa Saganash, the director of Cree-Quebec relations for the Grand Council, said the stories were shocking and painful to hear.

"The stories show a systemic pattern of individual police misconduct specifically targeting indigenous persons. The conduct ranges from rudeness and disrespect, lack of empathy, racism to harassment and intimidation, sexual abuse and soliciting of sexual favours, illegal confinement and abduction, including starlit tours and most disturbingly, physical violence and killings," said Saganash.

On Thursday Picard acknowledged the courage and perseverance of First Nations women.

He thanked the commission for listening and said they'll be waiting for the final report and recommendations to come.

That is expected to take several months.