Blood police chief is fired

Page 2

Blood reserve police chief Liz Scout has been fired for speaking out against band politics.

Scout, the only female chief of police in Canada, was fired two weeks before the reserve was scheduled to take over its own policing duties, which will make it the first police force in Canada to be run totally by Natives.

Since Scout took over as chief in 1988, the force has grown from a unit of seven to 16 officers. She received a written termination notice from two police commissioners, who stood by and watched her pack.

"They said I was fired because I talked to the media and instigated everyone speaking out against the (chief and council)....they also said I didn't follow directives which means I didn't jump when they wanted me to . They tried to dictate to me what

I should do," said Scout.

The police commission last month ordered Scout not to talk to the media after she spoke of band "funding games" that were threatening people's lives. The reserve was then unable to account for funds set aside for the community fire hall. Firefighters had to battle blazes with hand-held fire extinguishers because their water trucks didn't work. There has been no explanation as to what happened to about $700,000 earmarked for fire protection.

"How can they quash something that is so important and at such a crucial time, and when so much effort has gone into it...The sad part is that I started the police force.

I did it on my own. And I put my children and family on the back burner to do it," said Scout, a single mother of four. She first ran the unit out of a garage before a new and modern police station opened a year ago.

The Blood reserve, 30 km southwest of Fort Macleod, is Canada's largest Indian reserve, measuring 1,400 square kilometres.