Thank you, Vice-Chair, for the question.
This issue has been studied several times in this committee and also in the Senate committees, and we've been saying the same thing from the start. First nations police services, the FNIPP, the first nations policing program, can't be a program. It can't be left up to the government. There can't be discretionary funding. It needs to be legislated as an essential service like all other non-first nation police services are.
There needs to be that stability in funding but also in terms of growth within the first nations police services. There are 36 and there have been 36 for a very long time. There are more and more first nations that are prepared to take on their own police services and just need the ability to do that, to have the go-ahead, to have the essential services legislation, obviously.
Also, first nations police services need to be accountable to communities. First nations need to feel that they have input in terms of how their communities are being policed and make sure it meets their cultural needs, their cultural standards and their community needs.
Like the regional chief said, you currently have officers who are in remote areas policing by themselves with poor infrastructure, poor equipment and poor training. They're left alone to police large tracts of land. That's very dangerous. There should be some standards developed by first nations for their policing services and, of course, for adequate funding.
We're always talking about funding. There are 36 stand-alone first nations police services across Canada, and 32 of them are fighting the government right now in court just for equitable funding. You can look at the Auditor General's report from 2024. There was $13 million unaccounted for. They weren't sure where $45 million of it would be spent, under FNIPP for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Our communities need the funding. They need the ability to develop their own police services, and the police services themselves need to be essential services. Those are always going to be our recommendations.