Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Hogan, thank you once again for your presentation.
I'd like to come back to what my colleague Mr. Powlowski was saying about the labour shortage and lack of interest by indigenous peoples, in particular, in becoming police officers. I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.
First nations communities aspire to greater autonomy over the administration of policing services on their territories. That requires and deserves police services that are stable and adequately funded, at comparable levels to those provided in other communities in Canada.
The Assembly of First Nations calls upon the Canadian government and its provincial partners to designate first nations police services as essential services. Therefore, it's asking police services to be provided for and by indigenous peoples. That could impact recruitment and allow police officers assigned elsewhere in the country to go back and serve in their own communities.
Has that option been sufficiently explored?
Has the RCMP demonstrated willingness to transfer responsibilities directly to indigenous communities so that they can have their own police services?