Manitoba First Nations would have expanded authority to ticket bylaw breakers under new legislation

Manitoba's Justice Minister has introduced a bill that would enable First Nations to fine people who break laws and bylaws on re‐ serve, following a call from a northern Indigenous ad‐ vocacy organization.

Kelvin Goertzen delivered the first reading of Bill 43 on Tuesday, which is meant to simplify the legal framework and allow First Nations to en‐ force their bylaws on their ter‐ ritories through tickets and fines through the provincial court.

The legislation changes were proposed by Manitoba Keewatinowi Oki‐ makanak more than a year ago to help protect public safety.

"In particular, MKO has identified the need for the ex‐ tension of the ticketing regime in the Provincial Of‐ fences Act to First Nations laws to make enforcement more efficient, which will also effectively enhance and sup‐ port compliance and public safety in First Nations com‐ munities," Goertzen said in question period at the Mani‐ toba Legislature on Tuesday.

Last November, the advo‐ cacy agency held a chiefs as‐ sembly on justice and polic‐ ing.

Part of the issue, the as‐ sembly heard, revolves around local police forces be‐ ing unwilling to enforce First Nations laws and bylaws, in‐ cluding bans on drugs and al‐ cohol.

The RCMP ramped up its efforts to curb bootlegging in‐ to dry communities in March, but chiefs told CBC News at the time that they were still running into roadblocks en‐ forcing local bylaws.

The process to convict a person of breaking a First Na‐ tion's bylaw is "time-consum‐ ing" and "cumbersome" for the police officers in‐ volved, the assembly heard, because it needs to be en‐ forced under the Indian Act, rather than the Provincial Of‐ fences Act.

Goertzen says community safety officers in First Nations communities will have ex‐ panded authority to enforce provincial statutes and by‐ laws, and to respond to a range of lower-risk incidents that don't require police inter‐ vention.