Good afternoon.
My name is James Killeen. I'm the chief of police of UCCM Anishnaabe Police Service in the Mnidoo Mnising area of Manitoulin Island. I'm also the vice-president of the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario. I'm a proud Mohawk from Akwesasne.
The definition of “essential” is “absolutely necessary” and the definition of an “essential service” is daily services for “preserving life, health, public safety and societal functioning.” Ask yourselves this as you hear those definitions: What part of first nations policing or the communities that we represent do those definitions not entail? The answer is all. We take care of all of those issues.
I want to speak briefly about what we hope this committee takes away from today.
First, the problems with the first nations and Inuit policing program are not new. In 2014, the Auditor General found that the program was not accessible, not transparent, failed to meaningfully include first nations in negotiations and urgently needed its terms and conditions updated.
A decade later, the 2024 Auditor General report found the situation had worsened. Public Safety Canada still had no equitable funding approach, continued to fall short in programs and still has not meaningfully consulted first nations.
Adding to it is the word “program”. We are not an experiment. The word “program” insinuates that we are here part time. It's been over three decades. It is no longer a program. It's not called the “federal policing program”, the “provincial policing program” or the “municipal policing program”. We should not be a program any longer. We are here to stay.
Second, despite repeated court rulings directing Canada to fix this, the federal government continues to act as if these decisions do not exist. IPCO's own human rights complaint, which you heard about earlier, has been stalled in procedure. Canada has twice changed the terms and conditions after an injunction, again without any consultation.
We ask this committee to take what you've heard today and ask Public Safety Canada directly: What is being done to fix this program?
Third, we are concerned because we've now been told that Canada intends to change the terms yet again. This will happen in January 2026. The reason this is so important is that these new rules would block us from obtaining legal advice to challenge any discriminatory terms and would stop us from carrying over unspent funds. These changes are not just arbitrary; they are discriminatory and they further limit our ability to serve our communities. They are also two of the reasons that kept all three of our services alive when their funding was cut off in January 2023. The ability to have that carry-over gave us the ability for us to sustain our police services.
Fourth, this program has existed for over 30 years. The courts have ordered an overhaul. First nations have asked for one for decades. We should not have to win another ruling just to be heard. Canada regularly claims the process is complex and that funding is unavailable, yet in 2023, the minister updated the terms and conditions with the stroke of a pen to finally allow funding for basic policing units, such as crime units, drug units and canine units, which are very sorely needed in our communities, so we know change is possible when Canada chooses it.
Meanwhile in Ontario, the Community Safety and Policing Act now allows first nations to opt in to a framework with mandatory, adequate and culturally responsive policing. That is not true federally. What does that say about Canada and the views of first nations police services?