M’CHIGEENG—Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare and First Nations leadership told provincial lawmakers last week that their police services will no longer be able to keep First Nations communities safe once Ontario’s new policing legislation comes into effect and they will go to court on the issue if the province doesn’t come forward.
“They still want to control how the legislation is written and how much is given,” Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare told The Expositor.
“We met with government members and we didn’t hear any commitments to reach a timely resolution,” said Ontario Regional Chief Hare. “The Attorney General and Solicitor General declined to meet with us, and the Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Greg Rickford, does not seem inclined to entertain our solution, which is to pass a simple regulatory change that recognizes our band council resolutions (BCRs).”
The Community Safety and Policing Act was introduced by the provincial government in 2019 to modernize policing. Section 11 of The Act states that the enforcement of First Nations’ BCRs is not considered a mandatory part of safe and effective policing in Ontario, which First Nations maintain is discriminatory. The province had the chance to recognize First Nations’ BCRs through regulations created before the Act came into effect, but did not, said Chief Hare. He explained that First Nation BCRs cover critical safety issues and are often used to protect vulnerable people and deal with dangerous offenders. First Nations can make BCRs under the Indian Act, but many First Nations rely on collaboration with provincial police to enforce them.
“They said they are looking at six BCRs on these issues,” said Ontario Regional Chief Hare. Minister Rickford “said there are 133 First Nation communities in Ontario and how and where they would start. My gosh, there are about 450 municipalities in the province that the province deals with and they are concerned on having to deal with 133 First Nation communities?”
“They don’t want to recognize this,” stated Ontario Regional Chief Hare. “We have been saying since the fall that the Act should provide for our own laws in our communities. I have a resolution from all our chiefs that on April 1, if the government hasn’t come back to resolve this issue, that we go to court on this.”
The meeting with Minister Rickford included not only First Nation community leaders but First Nation police chiefs from across the province.
“Criminals are getting more brazen while the province legislates that police should not be obliged to enforce First Nations BCRs,” said James Killeen, chief of police of the UCCM Anishinaabe Police Services on Manitoulin Island. “We have had criminals tell us that they are coming to our communities because they know that there is nothing we can do to stop them. They are violently shaking people down for money and Ontario is taking away our ability as police to remove them. Ontario is legitimizing the idea through legislation that First Nations people deserve to be less safe based on race and ethnicity, which is racist and is against the basic concept of the rule of law.”
“We see the opioid, homelessness and crime crises all around us, and in neighbouring communities like Belleville and Peterborough, and we need to stop that from coming into our communities,” said Hiawatha First Nation Chief Laurie Carr in a press release. “We have worked well with the Ontario Provincial Police in the past to keep our community safe, so we do not understand why Ontario wants to get in the way of that relationship. Once again, Ontario is taking away our customary justice systems and undermining our communities’ right to safety.
Whitefish River First Nation Chief, and former UCCM chief of police, Rodney Nahwegahbow explained, “I was a police officer for years before I became a community leader, and I am simply shocked that Ontario would put officers and communities in a position where they can’t keep people safe because legislation tells them not to enforce laws.”
First Nations leaders continue to voice their concerns that the legislation will make vulnerable people even less safe. “Police just need the tools to do their job,” said Anishinabek Police Services’ Chief Jeff Skye.
“I asked the minister ‘what is it going to take to make the regulatory changes needed?’” said Ontario Regional Chief Hare. “Wiikwemkoong (Unceded Territory) is targeting the drug issue by working on setting in place residential BCRs to ensure the health and safety of the community and better control over those who are allowed into the community and those who are not. They are targeting the drug issue and drug dealers. I am glad Wiikwemkoong is taking this position.”
“My leadership is very disappointed in the government,” said Ontario Regional Chief Hare. “Our leadership is saying we can wait no longer. Our chiefs are in support of taking this to court so at least something might happen,” he continued. “We don’t want to go to court, we would like to sit with the government and work together and come to a resolution. I reminded the minister that as First Nations people as we travel around the province everywhere we go, we respect your laws; they should respect ours. Our laws are pretty much the same as Ontario municipalities. They said they are working on six BCRs to deal with the issue of policing and other issues. We want to write our own.”
“We had police chiefs at our meeting, and everyone—all First Nations—are concerned,” said Ontario Regional Chief Hare. “We can’t sleep at night knowing everything that is going on in our communities that could be prevented. And it would save a lot of the Ontario Provincial Police’s time if we had our own policing laws,” he added, noting First Nation laws are not recognized in the provincial court system.
“All First Nation policing services in First Nations communities have our own laws, but they are not being recognized,” said Ontario Regional Chief Hare. “We can’t sit back and wait for the province to come forward with their six BCRs for change.”
First Nations are now asking for Ontario to show it believes First Nations’ BCRs are part of safe and effective policing by fixing the regulations, as they have voiced many times to the province. “We cannot allow our communities to be less safe due to an openly discriminatory law,” said Ontario Regional Chief Hare. “If we do not see a real effort to fix the regulations by April 1 we will be left with no choice but to take it to the courts.”
“I hope by April 1 I get a call from the province that they want to sit down and come up with a solution,” added Ontario Regional Chief Hare.
