Rural crime team more punitive than preventive: FSIN
Province didn’t listen to suggestions from Indigenous leaders, vice chief says
A prominent Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations vice chief, who has previously spoken out about the need to attack the root causes of crime rather than simply make more arrests, says she is dismayed by the provincial government’s approach to tackling crime and policing in rural Saskatchewan.
Nine months after convening a caucus committee to study the issue and make recommendations, Justice Minister Gordon Wyant on Tuesday responded to the committee’s final report by unveiling a $5.9 million Protection and Response Team (PRT) which is expected to consist of 258 armed officers — including 30 new police positions — in remote areas.
FSIN vice chief Kimberly Jonathan said Wednesday in an interview that not only does the PRT seem to be “more punitive than it would be preventative,” the caucus committee’s final report does not include any of the eight recommendations submitted in January by the FSIN’s justice secretariat.
“If you want to check off a box, check off a box and don’t waste our time by giving us hope,” said Jonathan, who has long advocated for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to find common ground. That means funding programs that encourage conversations and address poverty and other social problems rather than making arrests, she told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix in March.
“It’s so indicative of the disrespect we’ve seen in the past,” Jonathan said Wednesday. “I’ll go so far as to say: And they wonder why there’s distrust with our First Nations leadership and the province, and our First Nations membership and the province. When you say there’s a duty to consult, there’s a duty to ensure that it’s meaningful.”
Recommendations from the caucus committee include better communication with the RCMP, stronger “alternative policing programs” in rural areas, harsher consequences for young offenders, more automatic licence plate recognition systems, lobbying the federal government for more onreserve services, expanded mental health and addiction services and a gang-exit program.
Those contrast sharply with the FSIN’s recommendations, which include a “meaningful” review of the Community Justice Programs Regulations, implementation of a renewed First Nations policing policy, the introduction of “peacekeepers” in rural areas, a strengthened Gladue report system and an expansion of its own anti-gang and crime prevention strategy.
“Certainly the FSIN was part of the consultation process. We received submissions from the FSIN, from their justice committee. They were very much part of the ongoing deliberation, certainly that the committee had undertaken,” Wyant told reporters Tuesday, noting that FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron could not attend the announcement due to a scheduling conflict.
Saskatchewan Party MLA Herb Cox was appointed to lead the task force in November 2016, three months after 22-year-old Colten Boushie was shot and killed in a Biggar-area farmyard. The 22-year-old’s death has become a symbol of broken relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the province, as well as the centre of a controversial discussion about rural crime.
Cameron said at the time that Boushie’s death opened a seam of ugliness, tension and anger running through parts of rural Saskatchewan.
Controversy flared in March after the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution to push for looser self-defence rules. The resolution was introduced by the Rural Municipality of Kindersley, representatives of which argued at the time that it was a response to out-of-control rural crime.
Jonathan, meanwhile, said the resolution disgusted her.
Chris Murphy, a Toronto-based lawyer who represents Boushie’s family, went further. In an interview with the StarPhoenix, he said the document contains “coded language” that will disproportionately affect Aboriginal people, and that it is the “exact opposite” of what is needed in Saskatchewan.
SARM president Ray Orb, who has previously attempted to calm tensions in rural Saskatchewan, said on Wednesday that the PRT is a “positive step” for farmers and ranchers concerned about crime, echoing a statement from the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association that described the response team as a “first step” toward addressing issues in rural areas.
Orb said while more can probably be done to increase the visibility of police in remote areas, SARM also wants to repair its strained relationship with the FSIN. He said SARM’s board members hope to meet with the FSIN leadership before its midterm convention in early November.
“I think (the relationship is) fractured because of that resolution, because the members of FSIN felt that it was directed at them, and that was not the case,” Orb told reporters Tuesday in Regina.
The Saskatchewan NDP also criticized the PRT.
Interim Opposition Leader Nicole Sarauer described the initiative as a “shell game” that simply moves police resources around, and said both Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill and Regina police Chief Evan Bray are on record saying “you can’t simply police yourself out of this crime problem.”