The federal public safety minister says he will visit the James Smith Cree Nation of Saskatchewan next week, where 11 people were killed in a mass knife attack, to advance the government’s plan aimed at having First Nations police services recognized as an essential service.
Marco Mendicino said he has spoken with his provincial counterpart, Christine Tell, as well as Indigenous leaders about the issue, as the community continues to face “indescribable grief”.
“It’s a heartbreaking reminder of the work we must do together … to take the necessary steps to ensure this type of tragedy never happens again,” Mendicino said Friday in Halifax.
“Policing by Indigenous peoples for Indigenous peoples is a key part of reconciliation.
A spokeswoman for the minister said he plans to visit the James Smith Cree Nation on Monday and meet with some of the families of the victims and local leaders.
The stabbing massacre occurred last month on the First Nation and in the nearby village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon. Eighteen people were also injured and a suspect in the attacks later died in police custody.
James Smith Chief Wally Burns lobbied the federal government for the First Nation to have its own police department, a healing lodge and more mental health and addictions support.
Ottawa has said it will introduce legislation this fall to ensure First Nations can have their own police.
The Saskatchewan RCMP also said they support First Nations to have their own police service and will look for ways to work with them.
“When it comes to resources, First Nations have made it clear that the way forward for their people … in this province is self-administered policing,” Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said earlier in an interview with The Canadian Press. .
“We fully support them in their transition to this.”
Blackmore said the RCMP would be willing to offer specialized support to First Nations, such as help against cybercrimes. There may also be opportunities to share officers from the RCMP’s Aboriginal Recruiting Unit.
“Police should be representative of the people we police, and we have a large Indigenous population in this province,” Blackmore said.
“Instead of trying to recruit First Nations people who have no policing experience, we can offer them people from their own community who may have that policing experience, which can be a success for their own self-policing services. -administered.
Policing rural areas remains a significant challenge for the RCMP in Saskatchewan.
“You just can’t cover as many areas as you could in a municipal area, where you have a large concentration of residents in a small area,” Blackmore said. “You always have that time to answer a call. This travel time.
Leaders of the James Smith Cree Nation said it took too long for officers to arrive on September 4.
RCMP said they received the first 911 call about a stabbing on the First Nation at 5:40 a.m. Within minutes, they received further calls about multiple stabbings at different locations on the First Nation. Nation.
Blackmore said it took officers 40 minutes to get there, as the nearest detachment is 40 kilometers away. The RCMP alerted the public to the stabbing approximately 80 minutes after the initial call.
Mendicino said any new plan to help First Nations have self-administered policing should be sustainable in the long term.
“That’s why we are committed to co-developing, with Indigenous and Inuit communities across the country, legislation that recognizes Indigenous policing as an essential service,” Mendicino said.
“Communities that are ready to take the step of creating their own police service and have a plan should be met with a federal government partner, and that is our commitment.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 14, 2022.
– With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax