THUNDER BAY — In a historic move on Tuesday, Nishnawbe Aski Police Service has “opted in” to become the first legislated Indigenous police force in Ontario.
The historic move makes NAPS accountable under the same laws as municipal police services in the province and gives it access to the same funding. At the announcement, $514 million was also announced to double the number of officers that serve NAPS' 34 First Nations communities.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and provincial Solicitor General Michael Kerzner made it official with a brief signing ceremony after a news conference in Toronto.
Opting in on the standards and rules set out in the province’s Community Safety and Policing Act is good for NAPS and the 34 northern communities it serves, Fiddler said.
With the opting-in, the service’s board has also entered into a funding agreement with Ontario.
“We have worked for years to have our own police service mandated as an essential service, with sustainable and equitable resources that support the safety of our members and communities,” Fiddler said.
Frank McKay, acting chair of the NAPS board, said the new relationship with the province “will allow us to provide essential services to our communities in a culturally appropriate way that respects our people, our laws and our ways of life.”
Russell Wesley, chief of Cat Lake First Nation, said the announcement was a welcome development for a police service that has served his remote community well.
NAPS is better for his community because NAPS officers “are expected to be prepared culturally to understand the people,” he told Newswatch in a phone interview from Cat Lake.
A coroner’s inquest into the 2010 death of a man while in police custody in Cat Lake recommended Ontario “permit NAPS to be designated as a police force” under provincial legislation. Other inquests have made similar recommendations.
A news release Tuesday from NAN said First Nations communities have historically not been “entitled to the same policing standards as non-Indigenous communities,” but all that changes with the new agreement.
Becoming “constituted” under the provincial statute means NAPS “will benefit from the same standards as municipal police services in Ontario and receive the proper funding that is required to meet those standards,” stated the release.
Headquartered in Thunder Bay, NAPS serves First Nations communities across northern Ontario.
With 230 uniformed officers and 40 civilian employees, it is the largest First Nations police service in North America.
Stable and adequate funding should make it possible for NAPS to double its officer contingent in the next few years, McKay told Newswatch from Toronto.