Before retiring and taking on the executive director position, I served 37 years of policing, of which 33 years were with municipal police services. I started with the Ottawa Police Service and did 22 years, and then became chief of police of the Gananoque Police Service, just outside of Kingston, Ontario. As well, I did seven years with the Cobourg Police Service, an hour outside of Toronto.
With that 33 years of policing, my understanding of community-based policing was totally changed when I was recruited and asked to go up to Treaty Three Police as their chief of police. I immediately realized that what I was experiencing or witnessing in first nation policing was nothing that I had witnessed in municipal policing.
If someone were to call 911 sitting where we are today in the city of Ottawa, within four minutes or less a police officer, or a group of police officers, would arrive and respond to that emergency. In Treaty Three, if someone called.... First of all, many of our communities don't have 911, so you would have to call an eight-digit number, but if you were able to get through and called and said there was an active shooter or any other major crime, it could take up to three hours for the police to respond. By that time, a criminal would be able not only to bury the body but to disappear, whereas here in the city of Ottawa, if it took more than seven minutes, I would think there would be an inquest as to why the police took so long.
The differences of municipal policing and provincial policing to first nations are hard to describe. I would leave an invitation to the committee. I don't know what your plans are, if there is an opportunity to travel into any of these self-administered first nation police services, spend a night and spend a couple of hours and ride in a police car with a police officer. You will see first-hand the significant differences of first nation policing.