OPP assures Island communities that they will ensure community safety is maintained
M’CHIGEENG—While Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare is disbelieving that the UCCM Anishinaabe Police Services can or will have its funding denied by the federal government, an official with the Manitoulin detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says the OPP will continue to work with its First Nation policing partners to ensure community safety is maintained.
“We all should be concerned by what is occurring, but I don’t see it happening (that the UCCM Police will be denied an extension of its funding support by the federal government),” stated Regional Chief Hare. As was reported last week, the UCCM APS is one of three Indigenous police services that have sued the federal government as it has stopped providing funding to the police due to an impasse in contract negotiations and now are being told they will now be denied extension of funding support from the federal government.
James Killeen, chief of police for the UCCM APS told The Expositor that as of March 31, the tripartite funding agreement (including the UCCM APS, the federal and Ontario governments) expired. Now the federal government has discontinued funding to three police services, the UCCM APS, Treaty Three Police Service and the Anishinabek Police Service, because the three police services have not signed a new police agreement.
“This would mean pretty much all (First Nation Anishinaabe) policing across Ontario.”
“I just heard about all of this yesterday (May 10),” said Regional Chief Hare. “They (government) just can’t do that; if they denied the OPP funding they would be certainly be taken to task. It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t want to believe any of this for a second.”
The three police services have now filed an expedited judicial order to flow federal funding. Their operations are paid for through the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program, a federally administered program under which the federal government shares the costs of policing in Indigenous communities with provincial governments.
The Expositor previously reported that the program is plagued by funding shortages and other problems. The federal government has said it is preparing legislation that would create a new financial system for Indigenous policing, but the plan has not yet materialized.
The group’s legal action seeks an expedited judicial order directing the federal government to provide funds to the affected reserves, which the court filings say are already dealing with “high crime rates, addictions and mental health challenges.”
Negotiations for new contracts have broken down, according to the filing and the police chiefs say their forces don’t receive any new money without agreements in place.
These police forces note that in the court documents they are now using their last remaining funding. But the bigger concern is that their officers may soon stop patrols if no one can pay their salaries. Chief of Police Killeen said, “We have probably enough funds to continue for three months.”
“Once funding evaporates for these services, the consequences will be immediate and profound: 45 Fist Nations communities, with approximately 30,000 individuals, will no longer have access to police services,” the court filing says.
Acting Inspector Detachment Commander Robert Walsh of the Manitoulin detachment of the OPP told the Expositor last Thursday, “Under the Police Services Act, the OPP is obligated to provide police services in all parts of the province that are not serviced by a municipal police service. The OPP regularly provides assistance to First Nations police services and in some instances supplements direct service delivery. We will continue to work with our First Nations policing partners to ensure community safety and, if required, will take all necessary steps to fulfill our provincial policing responsibilities, as mandated.”
The UCCM APS is one of nine First Nations police services to have filed a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on the chronic underfunding of their police service.
“No one knows where any of this is coming from that the government has denied funding,” stated Regional Chief Hare. “No, the OPP won’t want to do this and have to handle the First Nation communities as well. And we certainly don’t want the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in our province and our communities. There are a lot of issues in the west and eastern Canada with them.”
“I think communication has been missed somewhere on this issue,” said Regional Chief Hare. This is right at the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau’s level. It is unforeseeable to me that we would see this (funding denied) happen.”
