DOTC lay off tribal police over funding

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Tribal police services have been cancelled on eight Manitoba reserves, leaving residents without police surveillance, and relying on RCMP from nearby communities to attend emergency calls.

A funding crunch forced the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council to lay off all 26 tribal police officers serving their jurisdiction, said chief executive officer Kathy Whitecloud-Roth.

The council is demanding an additional $500,000 from provincial coffers to fund the police force until the fiscal year end, next March 31.

The lay-offs were announced after a Nov. 9 meeting with provincial Justice Minister Rosemary Vodrey failed to produce an agreement about funding.

Currently the tribal police force is funded through the federal and provincial governments. Manitoba has granted $1250,000 a year since 1978 toward the force, which provides regular policing services to communities.

An agreement with provincially-contracted RCMP has the larger force taking over cases such as armed robberies or murders.

"Negotiations are at a stand-off right now. The entire police department is shut down," said Bruce Spence, with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

"The RCMP are providing police services on emergency basis to the communities in the DOTC."

The federal government is currently negotiating with First Nations and provincial leaders to establish a tripartite funding agreement for all tribal police forces across Canada.

Such an agreement would see the feds shoulder 52 per cent of funding, with the provinces and First Nations supplying the remaining 48 per cent funding.

The DOTC is blaming the Manitoba government for the stalled talks.

"Due to the unfair stance and lack of good faith exhibited by provincial representation at the negotiating table, the DOTC removed their representation until such time a meeting could be convened with the Attorney General of Manitoba to clarify key points in negotiating," read a statement from the council.

The DOTC has said it would be cheaper for the province to grant the additional funds than to have 16 to 18 more RCMP officers brought on to take over tribal police duties. Such a move would cost an estimated $1.6 million per year.

A meeting with the Attorney General scheduled for Nov. 14 was cancelled until further notice.

In the meantime, police emergencies on the eight reserves are being handled by RCMP from nearby communities, not by additional staff, said Sgt. Wyman Sangster.

"Detachments near the communities are taking all the complaints. They are being looked at when we can get to them," he said.

But he believes no extra officers will be called on board because the force is under severe budget restraints as well.

"The difficulty would be finding those positions at the moment," he said.

Since the lay-offs, local RCMP have taken over the responsibility of basic policing in the reserves, additional duties which are shoved to the back burner in order to deal with the additional emergency calls, he said.

"The tribal police provided that basic service and people got used to it. But now they can't have it until we have the resources to provide it.

The DOTC tribal police was the first to be established in Canada, in 1977.