LITTLE CURRENT—Members of five enforcement services gathered on Manitoulin Island to conduct joint snowmobile patrols last week. The joint patrols are part of Canada’s commitment to strengthen border security and since Manitoulin and Sault Ste. Marie are border communities, the collaboration is intended to continue into the future.
“Sault Ste. Marie RCMP reached out to us, to us and the OPP and Wiky, to see if they could come to the Island to do joint force patrols,” said Sgt. Dave Mack with the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin Anishnaabe Police Service (UCCM APS). “It’s the first of its kind. I’ve been here for 20 years, and I believe we have never done this before.”
The snowmobile patrol collaboration included officers from the Sault Ste. Marie RCMP detachment, the Manitoulin OPP, UCCM APS, Wiikwemkoong Tribal Police Service and Conservation Officers from the Ministry of Natural Resources.
In the past, Sgt. Mack notes, individual police services have worked together, but this is the first time all five have combined on patrols. “It’s a good relationship and it does have to do with the border security patrol,” shared Sgt. Mack, who noted it is now part of the RCMP and OPP mandate.
“The original settlement for the Zhiibaahaasing reserve was on Cockburn Island, and it still is to an extent, so technically, that is our policing area,” the UCCM office noted. “As the crow flies, it’s literally a kilometre-and-a-half from Zhiibaahaasing First Nation to the US/Canadian border.”
“So, we launch in the West End and go out and do ice patrols, or they can launch at St Joe’s Island and then we launch at Meldrum and meet up on the ice,” said Sgt. Mack. In the wintertime it is all about the snowmachines, but in the summer, the forces will do the same with vessels. Now that we’ve (UCCM APS) got a vessel last year, that’ll be in the works too.”
The Manitoulin and North Shore regions have a long history of smuggling dating all the way back to the 1930s and US Prohibition—going back even before that time during bouts of tariffs in the past.
The collaborative patrols will allow the services to develop protocols and policies that will guide those working relationships.
These inaugural patrols are taking place over the course of three days, with the officers familiarizing themselves with the trails leading from the US to Canada, across Manitoulin and on to Killarney. The increased patrols will assist in tackling smuggling of drugs, guns and other contraband between our two countries.
The group decided to head out on the Friday leg of the patrols under the sign memorializing 28-year veteran OPP Constable Marc Hovingh, who was killed in the line of duty while investigating a trespassing complaint in Gore Bay.
