TORONTO - The Ontario Provincial Police says the force has become one of the most "progressive in the world" since the shooting death of native protester Dudley George 12 years ago, but some minority groups allege racism is still a real problem in policing and the force itself acknowledges there is a lot more to do to make officers more culturally sensitive.

Marie Chen, a lawyer with the African Canadian Legal Clinic, says both aboriginals and blacks are still greatly over-represented in the province's criminal justice system, and the provincial police can't call itself progressive until it has done the research and compiled the data to prove it has examined why this is the case.

"How can you prove things have improved unless you have the hard facts to back that up?" asked Chen. "They have the responsibility to take stock of their practices to see if they have a problem. They need the hard data. You can't play around with that."

Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse, of the Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation west of Sudbury, said he wasn't surprised that the Ipperwash inquiry found evidence of cultural insensitivity and racism among provincial police officers.

"There's systemic racism that goes on, and as a First Nations person, we feel that the kind of racism every day," he said.

Commissioner Sidney Linden wrote in his public inquiry report into George's death that provincial police officers used racial taunts and slurs against the aboriginals who occupied Ipperwash Provincial Park in September 1995.

The most obvious instance of this was one officer's comment the day before the shooting that they could "bait" the occupiers with a pit full of beer.

"Works in the south with watermelons," the officer was heard to add.

Toulouse said anyone who works with First Nations people on a regular basis should be provided with cross-cultural education. He said this particularly applies to police.

Julian Fantino, commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, has yet to publicly comment on Linden's finding that police were "culturally insensitive." He would not be interviewed on measures his force has taken to address the problem.

Mark Sandler, lawyer for the provincial police at the Ipperwash inquiry, says the force has already adopted many of Linden's recommendations and has been working for years to develop a more respectful relationship with the province's First Nations people.

Changes adopted since Ipperwash include aboriginal relations teams to mediate disputes, an aboriginal liaison officer to address culturally sensitive issues, an aboriginal awareness program in which more than 2,000 officers have participated, and outreach programs to recruit and promote aboriginal officers, said Sandler.

"There's no doubt that the events at Ipperwash were a catalyst for many of the significant changes the OPP has made," he added.

However, the force also recognizes that it could do more. Sandler said provincial police have created an implementation committee to examine the report's recommendations, and he is certain even more changes will be implemented shortly.

"There's a lot more to do, there's no denying that," he said. "We're dealing with a police force that has over 5,000 officers. I don't think anybody would say that it's an overnight process to ensure that no incident will ever happen again. The idea is to introduce measures to try to minimize the likelihood that it's going to happen."

The Ipperwash inquiry was called to investigate the death of George, an unarmed aboriginal protester gunned down by a police sniper for refusing to end an occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park, where he said his ancestors were buried. The report found that Ottawa's neglect of aboriginal land claims, an impatient provincial government and the cultural insensitivity of police all contributed to George's death.