I'm going to be quoting from a website I found, the Olthuis Kleer Townshend website. It's a legal firm that does a lot of work with indigenous communities. They talk specifically about this issue of bylaw enforcement on first nations.
Let me cite from them, because I think it's a good summary. It says:
While section 81 of the Indian Act allows bands to make on-reserve by-laws in areas including traffic control, residency, public health, and intoxicants, and while some of these by-laws can include penalties such as fines and/or imprisonment, the Indian Act does not specify whether the provinces/territories, federal government, or First Nations themselves are responsible for prosecuting by-law infractions. Lack of federal and provincial/territorial coordination or leadership on this issue has led to a situation where oftentimes neither federal nor provincial/territorial levels of government are choosing to prosecute these laws.
I'm thinking Chief Cox is the one to address this to. You've been doing this for 40 years. I hear a lot of frustration from both the indigenous community and the police services about not enforcing the bylaws.
This law firm makes some suggestions, and you've been around, Chief Cox, long enough to maybe know about this. What about section 107 courts? Under the Indian Act, the federal government has the power through section 107 to create federally appointed justices of the peace for the prosecution of bylaws on reserve. I looked up section 107, and it's really there.
In 2004 the Harper government halted the practice of appointing section 107 justices of the peace. The federal government has never resumed this practice. They also suggest the possibility of these bylaws being prosecuted by the province. Apparently in Ontario that was the case, but funding was removed for that.
The federal government could reinstate section 107 courts. Do you have any familiarity with those? I've heard and I understand your other suggestions, but there seems to be in the Indian Act a mechanism that we're not using.
Do you have any comment on those courts?