The head of the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association says he hopes a federal bill in the works that aims to make Indigenous policing an essential service will come with adequate funding to ensure those forces can attract enough officers.
“It really impacts the recruiting and retention of employees when the chief of police can’t categorically offer somebody a fulsome career in policing,” said Lennard Busch, a former police chief and member of the Kahkewistahaw First Nation in Saskatchewan.
“So why wouldn’t they look somewhere else where they could be with a larger police service, where their longevity is almost certain?”
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Busch’s association and the Assembly of First Nations has been working with Public Safety Canada on drafting the legislation, which is expected to be introduced in the new year.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said in an interview with The Canadian Press earlier this month that Indigenous communities deserve “the same quality of policing” as others.
“We need to anchor our work in a relationship that is based on trust, on respect and on a recognition of the inherent right of Indigenous Peoples to self-determine when it comes to public faith,” Mendicino said.
The legislation has been years in the making, but the need for it was brought to the fore after a mass stabbing on James Smith Cree Nation, Busch said.
The Sept. 4 stabbings left 11 dead and 18 injured at the First Nation, as well as in the nearby village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon.
James Smith Cree Nation Chief Wally Burns has since pushed the federal government to help fund a policing service in his community.
The First Nation currently relies on RCMP, with the closest detachment nearly 50 kilometres away.
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