NISHNAWBE ASKI NATION – While waiting on the word on becoming an independent police force in the region, some topic of conversation that is province has put on hold until the end of the election, the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service has signed an agreement that will fund new administrative positions to help train 60 officers that have been hired.
The positions are two information technicians, one for finance, and one for human resources.
“We were successful in addressing administration, operations, and Infrastructure,” said Chief Roland Morrison, Nishnawbe Aski Police, “if you think about it, over the last few years, the Nishnawbe Aski police have grown in terms of the compliment. We look great on paper; I’ll say that right now. Still, we do suffer workplace injuries, and that really plays a hardship on trying to deliver operations.”
In making this comment, Chief Morrison urges the assembly and the public to understand that although funding negotiations were successful, there is still a long way to go before Nishnawbe Aski Police has the infrastructure necessary to be fully operational.
Being one of the most prominent First Nation Police Services in Canada, with 200 uniformed officers, it is disheartening to hear that the essential operation of the police service is so far behind in terms of out-of-date equipment and human resources management.
After two years of living through COVID-19, there is a growing awareness of the influence of technology, especially when it comes to policing. The Ontario Provincial Police Citizen’s Self Reporting portal is an online resource where people can report crimes without calling 911.
The Nishnawbe Aski Police Service struggles to have enough funds to promote and coordinate such an online operation. Now, with the funding, a Citizen Self Reporting Portal is something that can be possible.
Chief Morrison continues, “if you think about all the Nishnawbe Aski police and all of our territories, we have two people servicing out 36 detachment and three of our headquarters, which we knew was not enough.”
With COVID-19 shutting down in-person court hearings in the region, products like Zoom took over most of the province’s judicial system.
The lack of high-speed internet in the remote region is a massive barrier to operating courts through this medium. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until the recent negotiations that the problem of not having access to new technologies hampers the processing and sentencing of criminals.
However, another hardship for many First Nations communities is communication. The problem that the OPP is also facing. Chief Morrison addressed this barrier by telling the public that jobs are available in the OPP communication department.
“We need people that can speak the language,” Chief Morrison explains.
He explains that if people have the language skill to apply and specifically state that they know how to speak Cree and Ojibwe. Their application will be pushed through.
In addition to funding for administrative positions, the Nishnawbe Aski Police also received grants for five new detachments. Two in Marten Falls and Neskantaga construction can commence with the 2022/2023 fiscal year, and three divisions in Attawapiskat, Miskeegogamang, and Chapleau are expected to begin construction in 2023/24.
Chapleau, in particular, took 25 years to get a police detachment.
“We have never received funding for five new detachments in one negotiation sitting. So this is something for them, the funder to give the Nishnawbe Police is a really huge step for them,” Chief Morrison explains. “Because the need is there. The need is there to replace our infrastructure.”
Morrison says that the province is starting to acknowledge the need to replace the Nishnawbe Aski Police Services infrastructure.
“We’ve been slowly replacing it over the years, but the infrastructure we have been receiving has been very inadequate,” said Chief Morrison. “We’ve been told what is going to be best for us, and when you think about the modular detachment we have, and then you think about the other modular detachment, the newer detachments that are several in our communities, they are still not appropriate for effective policing.”
The new detachment would allow a safe space for Nishnawbe Police to work with new equipment to conduct investigations adequately.
As for word on the Nishnawbe Aski Police becoming an independent police force with the province, that new will have to wait until the election results.
