Police an essential service, yet funded by grants

When the federal Police Officers Recruitment Fund concludes, that loss of funding will have an immediate and obvious impact on policing in Treaty 3.

“That’s 10 per cent of our (police) service basically,” said Treaty 3 Police Chief Conrad DeLaronde.

In 2008, the federal government allocated $400 million for a five-year period through the Police Officers Recruitment Fund. That money was transferred into trust funds for the provinces and territories to use.

“The objective was to provide one time support to provinces and territories to assist them in recruiting 2,500 police officers across the country, given that policing in Canada is a provincial responsibility,” said Jessica Flack, spokesperson with Public Safety Canada.

Treaty 3 accessed that funding, which was capped at $100,000 per police officer. Through the policing service agreement that exists with the Ontario and federal governments, Treaty 3 was able to top up the money to $140,000 to cover the costs associated with each officer.
Treaty 3 added seven officers to their police service and utilized them throughout the Treaty 3 region, incorporating them in with the rest of the officers.
On March 31, 2013, that funding comes to an end.

“We lose our ability to ensure the safety of all 23 communities we serve…. It puts communities at risk. It puts officer safety at risk,” said DeLaronde.

The downsizing will mean policing services for Wabaseemoong First Nation will have to be returned to the Ontario Provincial Police.

“That way, we’re not compromising our ability to provide a police service to the rest of the communities we serve,” said DeLaronde. “To take seven officers, one from this location, one from that location, then the quality of service suffers in the rest of the communities.”

The OPP is funded differently than Treaty 3 Police Services and has more money, said DeLaronde.
However, there are other issues.

“It will provide a significant policing pressure for them because they don’t have the resources in place. It’s going to impact their ability to provide policing services to the rest of the area they’re responsible for,” he said. “The community does not want the OPP policing their community. They want Treaty 3.”

While DeLaronde is confident OPP will provide services at the same level Treaty 3 does, he notes that the cultural component will be lacking.

DeLaronde has lobbied both the federal and provincial governments asking “for serious consideration to provide permanent funding” for the seven officers under the service agreement. DeLaronde said he heard back from Madeleine Mueller, provincial minister of Community Services and Correctional Services, indicating that the matter has been taken under advisement but that the province needs federal support to move ahead on the issue.