Federal money could lead to more self-administered First Nations police
The chief of Saskatchewan’s lone self-administered First Nations police force says he is “cautiously optimistic” that an injection of federal funding into First Nations policing will make conditions safer for his officers and allow his force to become a more attractive place for young people to work.
“At least for the short term we can assure our employees that we’re still going to be around for awhile,” said Lennard Busch, chief of the File Hills First Nation Police Service. “Depending on how it plays out, it certainly could help address the problem of chronic underfunding that self-administered First Nations police forces have been living with for quite awhile.”
The federal government announced Wednesday that it will pour $291.2 million into First Nation policing over five years, starting in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
More than a third of that money — $102 million — was announced in last year’s budget. The additional $189.2 million announced this week will be used for policing equipment, salaries of existing police officers and the creation of up to 110 new police officer positions.
The announcement comes less than three months before the federal government’s policing agreements with First Nations communities end on March 31.
“I can tell you that, as the April 1 deadline approached on the agreements, some people were getting a little bit concerned about the future,” Busch said.
Under the First Nations Policing Program, First Nations in Canada can either sign community tripartite agreements to have their policing services provided by the RCMP or they can establish their own self-administered forces.
In Saskatchewan, 44 First Nations are policed by the RCMP under community tripartite agreements and five are policed by the File Hills First Nations Police Service, the province’s only self-administered First Nations police force.
The First Nations of Okanese, Peepeekisis, Carry the Kettle, Star Blanket and Little Black Bear were once policed by the RCMP detachment in Balcarres, but they incorporated their own self-administered police force in 2002.
Busch said the force, which operates out of a remodelled medical centre, struggles with funding.
First Nation policing is not classified as an essential service and funding plans are short, which makes it difficult to develop long-term plans. The police service doesn’t have the money to maintain its equipment and recruiting is tough because the service has trouble paying salaries that are competitive.
“There are issues where there are police officers in fairly remote areas working alone and that’s never a good idea, but that’s just kind of the reality with the resourcing levels that we have right now, so we might be able to hire more people (with this new money) and help address that,” Busch said.
Funding for First Nations policing — either through community tripartite agreements or self-administered forces — is split between the federal and provincial governments, with Ottawa covering 52 per cent of costs and the province covering 48 per cent. On Wednesday, federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said provincial governments will be asked to increase their funding for First Nations policing as well.
In an emailed statement, Noel Busse, a spokesman for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice, said the province is “encouraged” to see the federal government’s announcement and that the ministry will “need time to review it before providing any additional comment on what it may mean for Saskatchewan.”
One thing it could mean is that more Saskatchewan First Nations will attempt to establish self-administered police services.
The northern First Nations of Little Pine and Poundmaker, which are presently policed by the Cut Knife RCMP detachment, have spent the last two years looking into starting their own selfadministered service. However, a lack of certainty about how much funding would be available beyond April 1, 2018, made it difficult to move forward with plans, said Little Pine elder Jacob Pete, who has been spearheading efforts to establish a self-administered police force that would serve Little Pine and Poundmaker.
But having that information isn’t the only thing the First Nation needs to move forward on its plans. It will take money to build a police station and purchase appropriate equipment, but it’s not clear whether those startup costs will be eligible for the funding announced this week.
Busch said he hopes the federal and provincial governments make startup costs available. For him, it’s a matter of self-determination.
“There’s a belief that First Nations police officers should be the ones policing First Nations communities,” he said. “It kind of goes back to the warrior societies that maintained the peace in our communities years ago. It’s kind of a looking back and a step forward in terms of addressing our own issues in our communities.”