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Detainees chained to a concrete floor

Northern First Nation can't get keys to RCMP jail

By: Larry Kusch

Wednesday, Sep. 12, 2012 at 8:45 AM | Comments: 0

Lac Brochet released photos Tuesday that show a detainee chained to the floor in the dressing room of an arena. The community has had to take such an extreme measure because it says the Mounties won’t provide it with the keys to their cells. (JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

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MKO Grand Chief David Harper (above) says problems at Lac Brochet are symptomatic of a 'crisis' in policing in Manitoba's north. (JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

A prisoner advocacy group is appalled a northern Manitoba First Nation has had to chain detainees to the concrete floor of a hockey arena dressing room because it doesn't have access to RCMP jail cells.

Since June, four residents of the Northlands Denesuline First Nation in Lac Brochet have been temporarily handcuffed and secured in the room with a tow chain. At least one is being held for public intoxication.

The RCMP, which maintains a small station in the remote community but does not regularly staff it, has refused to turn over jail keys to band constables. The Mounties say the local constables lack proper training.

On Tuesday, leaders of the Northlands Denesuline First Nation distributed copies of photographs the band took last month showing the primitive conditions for detainees in the community.

John Hutton, executive director of the John Howard Society of Manitoba, called the conditions "totally unacceptable."

Hutton said the photos raise safety concerns, noting the chain is long enough for a detainee to wrap around his neck and strangle himself. If the prisoner were to vomit and choke, he would be unable to use his hands to clear his throat.

Hutton said it's tough to imagine a person being detained in this manner in Winnipeg. "It wouldn't be tolerated here and it shouldn't be tolerated there," he said, adding the RCMP and province should work with the northern community to immediately resolve the problem.

MKO Grand Chief David Harper, whose organization represents 30 northern Manitoba First Nations, said the situation at Lac Brochet is symptomatic of a "crisis" in policing in the north.

Harper said RCMP officers are stationed in only half of the north's aboriginal communities. Meanwhile, the government has dropped the ball when it comes to training band constables, he said Tuesday, surrounded by northern leaders who claimed inadequate policing puts their people at risk.

Harper told a Winnipeg news conference Justice Minister Andrew Swan and senior RCMP officials have been aware of the policing problems at Lac Brochet since June but have failed to act.

"That's not a place where public safety officers can work," he said, referring to the local arena being used as a temporary holding cell.

Northlands Chief Joe Antsanen said the community had no choice but to detain people in the arena.

"It's a concern and very frustrating," he said.

Swan would not comment on the photos released Tuesday.

He said he wrote a letter to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews in early August requesting a meeting to discuss the situation at Lac Brochet.

He said Toews has not yet responded.

Swan said the federal government -- not the province -- provides training for band constables.

"For reasons that I'm not aware of, there's been no training over the past several years," he said.

Julie Carmichael, a spokeswoman for Toews, said in an email late Tuesday Ottawa provided $43,000 to the Northland band for constable training.

"Band constables are not trained, nor are they supposed to be engaged in detention," Carmichael noted. "Band constables are trained to provide immediate response and in what circumstances they are supposed to call the police.

"If provinces delegate detention authority to band constables, then they are doing so beyond training provided and in a matter which puts citizens at risk," Carmichael said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

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