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Results: 1 - 7 of 7
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We're talking about the budget. The government proposed $860 million over five years and $145 million thereafter.
Are you satisfied with the budget?
Will it address some of the financial problems you were talking about earlier?
Roland Morrison
View Roland Morrison Profile
Roland Morrison
2021-05-13 19:26
When you have money set aside for first nations policing, and you look at all the policing services across Canada, we have to compete with the respective indigenous services for this money. When you look at the province of Ontario and here in northwestern Ontario, you have the Lac Seul Police Service. It is an 11 member police service. The distribution of money is not going to be fair. It should be fair. It should ensure that each police service has the same service delivery to ensure that it's meeting the needs of its people.
As grateful as we are for the money, when we look at legislation, we should be able to have this money within our police service to deliver programs, and that should come through the legislation. Yet, when you look at what's being provided, we are still having to compete with each other in a divisive manner to access funding.
Today, I informed the NAN chiefs—we have a call every two weeks—about the particulars of this funding that was announced, and that communities need to access programming as well to basically secure themselves, to have security programs for their communities to supplement and assist policing.
It shouldn't be that way, but that's what communities have to do. They have peacekeepers, because we don't have adequate funding to employ a lot of officers in many of our communities.
This is a great budget. It's going to improve our communities; however, it needs to be sustainable. When you look at it, it's only for five years, and then what?
View Adam van Koeverden Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thanks so much to all of the witnesses today. I know that everybody has already said this, but it's been extraordinarily insightful and helpful today, so we appreciate your testimony.
My name is Adam, and I'm joining you today from the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat, the Attawandaron, the Anishinabe and, most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
I just want to reiterate how helpful and insightful your testimonies and insights have been today.
In looking through budget 2021, I see that there's an extraordinary amount of money being invested over the coming five years in first nations policing. I would love some reflections from you, as experts and people in this field, on how this $861 million over five years, beginning this year, including $145 million per year ongoing, will respond to and contribute to supporting culturally responsive policing and community safety services. I hear loud and clear that funding is one part, that getting out of the way is important, and that providing space for deeper self-governing law-making and legislation are all very important.
I would love to hear from anybody.
I see, Mr. Yang, that your hand's up already, so perhaps you'd like to go first, and Mr. Browne can follow.
Derek Yang
View Derek Yang Profile
Derek Yang
2021-05-13 12:28
Thank you, Mr. Chair; and thank you to the member for that question. I think one of the key phrases that you have used is that it's funding for policing services.
There's traditionally a direct link. When indigenous communities or even the general public mention law enforcement, a lot of policy-makers and lawmakers think directly into policing. That's not necessarily the case for indigenous communities.
For example, there are communities that do not want a policing service. They do not want a self-administered policing service at all under the first nations policing program. What some of them would like is better investment into infrastructure and appointment of enforcement officers, whether it be peacekeepers or community safety officers or whatever we want to call them. The reason for that is that some of these communities have good service or a good relationship with the police of jurisdiction, and with that, a lot of the times the police jurisdictions simply do not have the resources to provide adequate service for the communities or be able to enforce the laws, such as the treaty laws or the bylaws under the Indian Act or the laws under the First Nations Land Management Act.
What we would like to see is a divestment, a move away from funding strictly guided towards policing and a broader approach to community safety or public safety and enforcement on indigenous territories. This is by no means advocating a decrease in funding for our self-administered policing partners, when in truth there are many who are in desperate need of a funding infusion. However, we do also need to see funding as well for—for lack of a better term—a tiered law enforcement program in which officers are not police but still deal with administrative regulatory enforcement and quasi-criminal enforcement in support of the police of jurisdiction.
View Adam van Koeverden Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Mr. Yang.
Before I ask for further reflections, I want to highlight that there is also $103 million over five years for a new “pathways to safe indigenous communities” initiative, which I think is a more holistic community-based safety and wellness model that you're talking about. As well, on the side of infrastructure that you mentioned, there's $108 million over five years to repair, renovate and replace policing facilities in first nations.
I think the budget is comprehensive, but I would love to hear from Mr. Browne, and Ms. Lazore as well.
Murray Browne
View Murray Browne Profile
Murray Browne
2021-05-13 12:31
Thank you very much. I'll keep this brief.
We were very pleased to see the funding. It's a major commitment. It shows a commitment to reconciliation. It's much needed. We just hope that first nations will co-develop it in how it's spent.
Just to follow up on Mr. Yang's comments, Tla'amin is not seeking its own policing board, which is too expensive to set up and administer, but they do want the authority and funding to create solutions.
I just want to mention liability protection. If we only apply funding, first nations are at high risk of liability for operating policing and enforcement without liability protection. The RCMP recently charged an individual on a reserve for trying to evict a trespasser. They charged the first nation representative, not the trespasser, for nuisance, because they thought the first nation rep didn't have the authority.
I think of examples like the First Nations Land Management Act, in which there's a federal framework and legislation that sets out the legal authority and liability protection for the first nations, and then sets the first nation up for success in a legal framework with funding. We also have similar examples on child and family issues. I just want to mention that.
Thank you for the question.
View Jaime Battiste Profile
Lib. (NS)
I only have 30 seconds, so as a final piece, there is also $24 million in the recent budget to develop legislation and initiatives to address systemic racism and barriers to the criminal justice system. Do you think the Indigenous Bar Association would be one of the organizations that would help create recommendations on legislation and on how we can do better in this area?
Results: 1 - 7 of 7

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