A Winnipeg native group wants a review of racism in the city's police service. The request comes after 911 operators ignored calls made by two Metis women who were murdered last year.

Sisters Doreen Leclair and Corrine McKeown were found stabbed to death in February 2000 in Leclair's home.

McKeown's former boyfriend was sentenced to life in prison earlier this week after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the deaths of the two women. William John Dunlop, 32, has no chance of parole or 17 years.

Before they were killed, McKeown and Leclair had made five 911 calls for help. Police were dispatched after the first call, but were told nothing was wrong. During a subsequent call, it's believed Dunlop can be heard killing one or both of the sisters. The police weren't dispatched again until after the fifth call.

The Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg says their calls were ignored because of racism. The transcript of the calls show operators suggested the women shouldn't have let the killer in the house, and that the parties involved had been drinking.

If we look behind the references to drinking, the references to victim-blaming ... all of those things just demonstrate to me a racial stereotype and also blaming victims, that they're somehow responsible and that they should protect themselves, says Marti Ford of the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg.

It leads one to believe that there is a pattern here of underlying hate. Sometimes racism is not name-calling anymore but a pattern of innuendoes. It's a little bit more subtle now, but the results are not so subtle.

But Winnipeg Police Service Chief Jack Ewatski says racism was not a factor in the deaths of McKeown and Leclair.

There was nothing that was uncovered during the course of this investigation that suggested in any way that racism, classism, sexism played any part, says Ewatski.