Ministers tout Indigenous policing investment

While no new money was announced for Indigenous policing on Friday, federal and provincial public safety ministers held a press conference in Brandon to announce $163.5 million in past funding commitments.

Speaking at the Waywayseecappo Conference Centre, federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the combined funding from the two governments is aiding the expansion and effectiveness of Indigenous-led policing efforts.

“I’m happy to announce that our governments today, Canada and Manitoba, are jointly supporting two major investments in First Nations policing and community safety here in the province under the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program,” Anandasangaree said. “This money will strengthen its capacity to deliver First Nations-led, culturally informed policing to the 12 First Nations communities that it currently serves.”

The funding includes $121 million for the Manitoba First Nations Police Service from 2023-27 and $42.5 million to expand the Manitoba First Nation Safety Officer Program from 2025-28.

Anandasangaree said the funding will help expand the safety officer program to all 63 First Nations in Manitoba by 2028.

“First Nations safety officers play a key role in the provincial public safety strategy, complementing and at times augmenting the role of the RCMP,” Anandasangaree said. “We will also provide improved training, equipment, communication tools and more equitable resources that are distributed across communities in Manitoba.”

MFNPS Chief Jason Colon, who attended the press conference, said the funding has allowed the service to dedicate officers for in-house training and purchase equipment such as body cameras, vehicle cameras and surveillance cameras at detachments.

The funding has also enabled the MFNPS to expand into two new communities in recent years — Fisher River Cree Nation and Gambler First Nation.

The police service is currently trying to secure funding for a Crime Reduction and Enforcement Unit, which targets crimes related to gangs, drugs and firearms, he said.

“We’re hoping in the next few years to have this position, this unit funded as full-time.”

Colon said the expansion of policing capacity in rural First Nations during the past few years has benefited people outside those communities as well, enhancing overall law-enforcement presence across the province.

He also noted the MFNPS works closely with the Winnipeg Police Service and the Brandon Police Service.

“Crime doesn’t really look at borders,” he said. “People from outside our communities are transporting substances, and by us having the resources to deal with those things, it supports the surrounding communities as well.”

Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe echoed those comments.

“There’s definitely a community focus to the work that’s happening with the FNSOs, with First Nations police,” he said at the press conference. “But I want to be clear: the work that they do is not simply focused on their own communities.”

He pointed to a case where First Nation safety officers in Bunibonibee Cree Nation identified drugs that were being brought into the community, leading to a deeper investigation by RCMP, which carried out arrests across the province.

“It’s an example of how public safety in one community impacts other communities,” Wiebe said.

“I think that there’s an element here where First Nations police are doing work that is complementing and adding to the work that’s happening with the RCMP and at the community level with the FNSO.”

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com