Public Safety Committee on July 23rd, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I call the meeting to order.

I see quorum. This is the ninth meeting of the public safety committee.

We have as witnesses, for the hour from two o'clock to three o'clock, Chief Ghislain Picard; Terry McCaffrey, president of Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario and chief of police with the Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service; and Chief Doris Bill.

I'll call on the witnesses for their seven-minute presentations in the order in which they appear on the notice of meeting.

With that, Chief Picard, you have seven minutes, please.

[Chief Ghislain Picard, Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I know that, technologically, interpretation between French and English can be a challenge, so I will limit myself to making my presentation in one language. Obviously, I will be able to answer questions in English or French, if there are any.

Mr. Chair, members of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, first of all, I just want to say that I support the comments made earlier this morning by my colleague from British Columbia, Regional Chief Terry Teegee. As you heard this morning, he shares with me the responsibility for justice issues at the national level for the Assembly of First Nations in Canada. I would also like to thank the Huron-Wendat Nation for having me here today to make this presentation.

First of all, systemic discrimination must be seen as part of Canada’s colonial past. Law enforcement played a major role in the colonization process. For example, it was the police who abducted our children and forced them into residential schools. It was the police who prevented our peoples from participating in their ceremonies and practising their spirituality. While others saw the police as a service for their protection and safety, our people saw them as the oppressors, so much so that in many first nations languages, as my colleague said earlier this morning, the word “police” is translated as “those who abduct us.”

Despite constitutional guarantees, and after several Supreme Court decisions, first nations constitutional and treaty rights continue to be violated with impunity. While systemic racism and discrimination are widely recognized and documented, some prefer to view them as the problems of others, denying that they are rooted in the very fabric of Canadian society. The right to protection and safety is something that other citizens can take for granted. However, we, the first nations people living on our territories, do not have these guarantees. This is primarily a human rights issue, but it also concerns the relationship between the justice system, the police and our peoples.

Why is the issue of the relationship between first nations peoples in Canada and law enforcement so difficult to address? The strained relationship between first nations peoples and the police has been the subject of extensive reporting since the 1960s and has been documented time and time again. Since 1967, at least 13 reports have examined this relationship. They have addressed all facets of the situation. Countless research reports have examined the issue. In every case, the conclusion is the same: Canada has failed.

Those who still doubt that the justice system has failed our people may want to take a closer look at our current reality. Numerous studies have confirmed that first nations people are more likely to be detained by the police following an arrest, most often on the basis of prejudice and racism. They are also more likely to be detained for long periods of time as part of the bail process. They are more likely to be sentenced to imprisonment and, too often, for long periods. They are more likely to be imprisoned for non-payment of fines. You can add to these deplorable facts that first nations people are more likely to be killed in police operations.

First nations women are not excluded from these statistics. A recent report published on the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal indicates that first nations women are a target group, as they are 11 times more likely to be arrested than white women. As the report of the National Survey on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls indicates, there are numerous reports of police abuse, excessive use of force, misconduct and racial profiling. These actions, taken by state officials responsible for public safety, are incompatible with their duties as peace officers and are indicative of systemic racism.

Now more than ever, the state must ensure that the police protect the public and that mechanisms are in place to do so. Over the years, despite numerous attempts to remedy the situation, the state has failed to adopt accommodation measures that truly mitigate the effects of imposing Canadian legislation on first nations peoples.

Issues of systemic discrimination against first nations are still not being addressed in a manner that reflects the urgency of the situation. Violence against first nations continues to make headlines. The time for rhetoric and political stasis is over; it is time to address the various issues that plague the justice and policing systems.

Other studies or surveys will not tell us more about what we already know. Canada must take immediate action, introduce a national plan and call on the provinces to formally recognize systemic racism. This action plan must also involve all levels of government to eradicate all forms of racism and discrimination against first nations peoples in institutions across the country, starting with police services.

The right way forward is to establish a national first nations justice and policing strategy and action plan. We need a collaborative engagement process to jointly develop legislation designed to implement necessary criminal justice and policing reforms. This task is before us. This is a national emergency. Systemic racism has gone on far too long.

In closing, I would also like to reiterate my support for the recommendations made by my colleague, Regional Chief Terry Teegee, before you this morning.

Tshinashkumitin.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you very much, Monsieur Picard.

Our next witness is Terry McCaffrey, president and chief of police at the Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service.

Please go ahead, Mr. McCaffrey.

[Chief Terry McCaffrey, Chief of Police, Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service, and President, Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario]

Good afternoon.

I would like to start by recognizing the two territories that we're meeting on this afternoon: the Wikwemikong unceded territory, composed of the Ojibwa, Odawa and Potawatomi peoples, and the territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation.

I would like to thank you all for the opportunity to appear before this committee to provide these submissions today on behalf of the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario, also known as IPCO. My name is Terry McCaffrey and I am the chief of police for the Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service and the president of IPCO.

Over my 24-year policing career, it has been an honour to have served over 35 first nations communities across three provinces—Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario—all under a first nations policing program known as the FNPP.

IPCO is composed of nine self-administered indigenous police forces across Ontario. Those services are the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, the Anishinabek Police Service, the Lac Seul Police Service, the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, the Rama Police Service, the Six Nations Police Service, the Treaty Three Police Service, the UCCM Anishnaabe Police Service and the Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service.

IPCO is a not-for-profit organization incorporated under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act on September 16, 2019.

The vice-president of IPCO is Jerel Swamp, who is the chief of the Rama Police Service, and the secretary-treasurer is Roland Morrison, chief of police for Nishnawbe Aski Police Service.

IPCO advocates in unity for equality for our indigenous policing services. Our mission statement is that our nine stand-alone indigenous police services are standing together as one to advocate policing equity across our communities and our membership; essential service status; full parity with other Ontario police services, including wages, benefits and pensions; full and adequate staffing, equitable for our unique needs; legitimate recognition as the experts in indigenous policing; and policing that is fully autonomous.

For decades, self-administered first nations policing in the province of Ontario has been chronically underfunded. First nations officers have been forced to work in conditions that other officers throughout the province—and country, for that matter—would never be subjected to.

As policing programs, indigenous police services are not subject to any policing legislation, and our communities have not had the benefit of policing backed by the rule of law. The severe underfunding of indigenous policing creates a unity between the police service, the community, and political leadership in our combined advocacy to the federal and provincial governments for fair and equitable funding to ensure our indigenous police services can provide effective, efficient and culturally responsible policing to the communities we serve. We are proud that despite these serious impediments, we have managed to progress and have truly created a connection with our communities built on cultural respect and autonomy.

IPCO was pleased to hear Minister Blair say that first nations policing must be made an essential service and recognize that we have been overlooked for far too long. The June 23, 2020, edition of the Toronto Star, reporting on Minister Blair's comments about making first nations policing an essential service, discussed a report by the Council of Canadian Academies, which said that without indigenous policing services these many indigenous communities are stuck with a colonial policing model that overlooks indigenous cultural traditions and fails to create the necessary bonds of trust.

The IPCO services have made the effort to make sure that our policing services align with the values of our communities, instead of trying to force our communities to align with conventional policing values. We are the experts in culturally responsive policing.

A perfect example of our police services aligning with our community values is the recent first nations border closures and community COVID measures that have taken place during the current pandemic. In early March, first nations leadership was considering putting measures in place to close borders to protect the health and safety of community members. Political leadership made clear to indigenous police services that they did not want to rely on a delegation of power from the Indian Act, but rather wanted to rely on their inherent rights and requested that the police service enforce the border closures.

In consultation and collaboration with political leadership, our indigenous police services assisted in the creation of a governance model that was vested in the inherent right to self-government and relied on existing provincial legislation such as the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act and the Trespass to Property Act for enforcement.

This governance approach was initially met with resistance. The Solicitor General for Ontario, Ms. Sylvia Jones, recommended that the community pass bylaws under the Indian Act for border closures, even though the Indian Act bylaws were devoid of any prosecutorial or adjudicative mechanisms. It was recommended that these bylaws could be used as teaching tools. This approach was wholly rejected by our communities. Our leadership wanted a governance process that allowed for enforcement of the border closures and community COVID measures.

After extensive correspondence by political leadership and IPCO to the Ontario Attorney General and Minister Jones, we were informed on July 13, 2020, by Attorney General Downey that the provincial government takes very seriously “the importance of ensuring that the emergency protection measures that are put in place in First Nations communities to ensure the safety and well-being of their members during this outbreak are effectively and consistently enforced.” This letter goes on to advise that the provincial government will prosecute any charges laid relating to border closures under the EMCPA and the Trespass to Property Act.

I understand that aspects of the indigenous policing model are not transferable to conventional policing. I also accept that the indigenous policing model is not perfect, but what we do have that at times some conventional police services lack, especially with racialized and indigenous communities, is trust.

The years of overpolicing of indigenous, Black and other marginalized people by conventional policing services have caused significant mistrust of police. We have seen this play out in the United States with the protests in the wake of the George Floyd death, as well as here in Canada with the recent police-involved deaths of an indigenous man, Mr. Rodney Levi, and an indigenous woman, Ms. Chantel Moore. Communities want accountability from the police.

Indigenous police services are accountable to our communities, and not just when there's a tragedy. We are responsible and accountable each and every day. That is what culturally responsive policing looks like in our indigenous communities. We design our services to be culturally responsive and we train our officers to provide culturally responsive policing services. This is our standard, and ultimately this is our strength.

As Sir Robert Peel set out in his nine principles of policing, in order for the police to properly perform their duties there must be public approval for police actions, and the more police engage in the use of physical force, the more public co-operation with the police will diminish. Our indigenous police services live these principles.

IPCO participated in this process today to offer a hand in friendship and reconciliation, despite our concerns about the lack of appropriate funding for indigenous police services, because we truly believe that community collaboration and culturally responsive policing engaged in by indigenous police services are models that could be helpful to rebuilding public trust and confidence in conventional policing here in our country.

Thank you very much for your time.

Merci. Kinanaskamitanow.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

We will go now to Chief Doris Bill, please, for seven minutes.

[Chief Doris Bill, Kwanlin Dün First Nation]

Well, dä`nnch'e, and good afternoon, I guess, where you are.

Thank you for the invitation to be a part of this very important conversation.

I look forward to sharing information about my community, the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, or KDFN, and summarizing a collaborative, community-driven approach we have created to address community safety concerns.

I am not here today to dispute whether systemic racism in policing exists. While I can't say it is as widespread as it once was, I think we can all agree it is real and that it lives on in many of our communities and institutions today.

Given the global conversation, I would like to premise my words by saying I openly support those speaking out against systemic racism and I acknowledge the harmful effects it has had on the health and well-being of first nations people, and indeed other people of colour.

At the same time, I see value in our existing policing services. While I am not a supporter of the calls to defund policing services, I think reform is needed. Here at home, I am sure our police department could use some additional resources, given the increased crime in our area. In some cases the increased demands and inadequate resources have had a trickle-down effect, especially as it relates to prioritized calls and response times. Citizens have reported it can sometimes take an hour or more for an officer to show up, and there have been calls for which no officers attended at all.

To provide further insight, shortly after I was first elected in 2014, KDFN began looking for ways to deal with community safety concerns. I think the breaking point came after the murders of two people. These unfortunate tragedies were the catalyst for change. It brought to the surface many issues and challenges around being an urban first nation.

Through many discussions with our citizens, we learned of numerous break-ins and violent crimes. We heard from single moms who were sleeping with baseball bats by their beds, from elders who didn't feel safe going out for a walk and from citizens concerned with bootlegging and drug houses. Simply put, our community was crying out for change.

It was also made very clear that there still remained a strong distrust of the police. People are often reminded of the trauma from residential schools, the sixties scoop and forced relocations when dealing with the police, not to mention that the intergenerational fallout continues to be a challenge. As well, let's not forget about the unfinished business surrounding missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

In many ways, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, along with its 94 recommendations, and our constitutionally protected final and self-government agreements helped to establish the initial path forward.

The first step in any crisis is the admission that there is a problem, and there needs to be a demonstrated willingness to listen and participate in the hard discussions. That also means not being afraid to scrutinize your own environment. We cannot criticize if we are not willing to accept our own shortcomings. In our case, we chose to listen, learn from one another and put the words into action.

From the onset, we knew that if we were going to turn things around, we had to engage our community; and if meaningful change were to occur, it had to come from within. We also needed to reset and rebuild relationships with our community partners, so together, with the community's help, we created a comprehensive community safety plan.

We established an interagency working group of community partners including the RCMP; Bylaw Services; the Safe Communities and Neighbourhoods unit, or SCAN; Public Safety and Investigations; and the Correctional Service of Canada. We built an innovative community safety officer program, or CSO program, which launched in 2016.

It is the CSO program that I wish to highlight today. The program is designed to strengthen relationships. It works closely with law enforcement, provides early detection and de-escalation of conflict in the community, and is culturally responsive. It has been well received by our citizens.

I wish to be clear. The CSO program is not intended to replace the police. The four officers we have don't enforce the law but help to de-escalate in certain situations. They have also intervened in cases that could have ended badly, especially for women who were in unsafe situations.

It is a great example of conflict-free resolution. It has proven its worth not only to the community but to the RCMP, which has provided support to this program because it has been such a help. The CSO program frees up RCMP officers to do other work. The calls to service have been reduced significantly since the program started.

While funding continues to be an issue, the program has gained full participation of the Yukon government, the RCMP and many other community partners. We have learned a lot about each other in the process.

Any officer working in a first nation community needs to understand the dynamics, the culture, the history, and the trauma of our people. This is key to strengthening the connection and relationship with the community.

We remain committed to the process. Recently, we signed a historic document with the RCMP, defining a new relationship. The letter of expectation, or LOE, promotes a positive and co-operative relationship and provides policing priorities, goals, and strategies that are specific to the needs of KDFN.

Ultimately, it is about choosing a path where strong partnerships allow us to develop the kind of policing we know we need in our community. If we are truly going to make a difference, the justice system must create the space for community-borne safety initiatives like ours. I think we can agree that together we can bring about the much-needed change we seek.

Sha¨`w nithän, gùnálchîsh, mahsi cho.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Chief Bill.

Our first questioner in the six-minute round is Monsieur Berthold.

Mr. Berthold, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

First of all, I would like to thank each and every person who has testified before us since the beginning of the day. I’m only here as a substitute, but I can tell you that it’s very informative. I’m learning a lot about your reality and systemic racism in aboriginal and Inuit communities. Thank you very much.

My first question is for Chief Picard.

The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is now promising legislation that would make aboriginal policing an essential service. There has been a lot of talk since this morning about the need to work together to combat systemic racism. If I am not mistaken, the chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations passed at least one resolution in 2018 to impress upon the federal government the importance of considering first nations policing as an essential service and of providing adequate funding and support, similar to what other police forces across the country receive.

Chief Picard, have you initiated discussions with the government on this bill promised by Minister Blair?

[Chief Ghislain Picard]

Thank you for your question, which is most relevant.

There is indeed a commitment. We are currently at the commitment stage. The next session will be held in the fall. Obviously, we hope that work will begin quickly in preparation for that session. As we all know, time is of the essence. Therefore, the sooner things are done, the more we will be able to table legislation that meets our expectations.

We had the opportunity to co-author a bill, which was a very successful experience for us. I am talking about Bill C-92, which deals with first nations children, youth and families, that is, aboriginal people. Of course, we would like to see things done in a similar way.

I should add that, for several years now, we have often maintained that our services should be recognized as essential. That being said, as the national executive, we recently passed a resolution stating that funding should be granted based on the needs expressed by the communities, and not just on a parity basis. I think this is an extremely important nuance.

In short, we hope that it will be possible, in practical terms, to get to the table quickly and begin the work.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Chief Picard, you say that a commitment to work with you has been made, but I would like to know if discussions have already begun.

[Chief Ghislain Picard]

We are still in the discussion stage with a view to agreeing on desirable conditions for engagement. We are not yet at the working stage.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Who do you think should be involved in this process so that the bill be well rounded when it gets to Parliament?

[Chief Ghislain Picard]

Nationally, we have political committees of chiefs that cover just about every sector. That’s the way we usually operate. However, in this case, we did not agree that it would be a process similar to the one we already have. It could be another process, for example, a working group.

In the case of Bill C-92, there was a policy and technical working group, that is, a policy group of chiefs and a technical group of experts in the field of social services. This may be possible in this case as well.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you very much.

My next question is for Mr. McCaffrey.

Mr. McCaffrey, in your opinion, did the RCMP burn bridges last June by refusing at the outset to acknowledge that there was systemic racism within its institution?

Did it jeopardize relationships with communities?

[Chief Terry McCaffrey]

That's a very difficult question.

I know that the RCMP have their best intentions when looking to serve indigenous communities. I've had many conversations with higher-level RCMP officers across the country about these very issues, but a lot of the discussion here is about police reform and how our police services are serving our indigenous communities.

One particular issue that comes up with the RCMP that I'll bring to light—they may not see it that way—is policing for the people by the people. There may be an individual who wants to work in their own community, but typically the policy is that they're not going back there. Here in Wikwemikong we are representative of our community: 90% of our officers are from here and have ties and roots here. Because of that, there is much more community connection.

As far as burning bridges goes, I can't specifically speak to that, but I think there's a lot more that conventional policing can do to build bridges.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You have about 15 seconds. Should we just move on?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Yes. Thank you very much to the witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Mr. Anandasangaree, you have six minutes, please.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank all of our witnesses today.

At the end I will be sharing some time with Ms. Damoff.

Chief Picard started off with a historical perspective on policing. We've heard from a number of witnesses today about its impact on indigenous peoples and therefore the need and the call for more indigenous people to be police officers, but also, and more importantly, we've heard about self-determination with respect to policing.

I'd like to pose this set of questions to Chief McCaffrey as well as to Chief Bill. In terms of the confidence of the communities you serve, do you think it's better, far better, or exceptionally better than in relation to non-indigenous-led police services?

[Chief Terry McCaffrey]

I would like to speak to that.

I would say that it is far, far better. The reason is that what it boils down to is we do not come in with a different set of values from our community. We come in and we adapt our values of our police service to those of our community. That way we are aligning ourselves with our community and creating a strategic plan that specifically speaks to meeting the cultural responsiveness that our community needs. That in itself is being culturally responsive. That in itself is building partnerships with our community and making it so that at the end of the day, we are community members, not an occupying force. We are the community, and the community is us.

[Chief Doris Bill]

I totally agree. Our CSOs are not an enforcement body. That is the difference between our community safety officer program and the RCMP.

When we did a survey among our citizens, we asked them the question, “Do you want the CSOs to have enforcement powers?” They said loud and clear that they didn't.

Our officers are all indigenous. We have one woman, and a couple of them are now from our community. That is the difference. They are from our community, and our community knows and trusts these individuals. They have roots and ties to these people. Our people know that they can go to them and trust them. They work alongside the RCMP officers, and they act as a liaison between the officers and the communities they serve.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

For both of you again, what are some of the challenges you've faced, especially with recruitment and retention, as well as interaction with the RCMP or the police service of a jurisdiction? I guess for Mr. McCaffrey it would be the OPP.

[Chief Terry McCaffrey]

Yes, that's correct. Recruitment and retention for us specifically doesn't seem to be a problem. What it boils down to is that our community supports us. Because of that, we're able to work with our community and build recruiting sessions that are attracting people from our community. Right now, at this very moment in our detachment, I have two post-secondary students working as students. We build these processes into our service to allow for succession and to allow for a buildup of the service.

Again, and I'll speak to what Mr. Picard spoke about, in most indigenous cultures and languages, when you talk about police, it's the man who takes you away. We've changed the name of our police service here to be “Enaagdawenjiged”, which means “those that help”. By changing that frame and rebranding what it is we actually do, we are attracting more people to this profession to work for indigenous police services.

[Chief Doris Bill]

As for Kwanlin Dün, I don't think that recruitment so far has been a huge problem. People needed to know and to understand what the CSOs were and how they would operate. In terms of retention, it's still too early for us to really think about that. The program actually helps the RCMP. It helps the RCMP by diminishing the number of calls, and it has saved time and money. The RCMP, in turn, are able to focus on other things.

We'd gotten to the point where the RCMP had been the one-stop shop of law enforcement, but it doesn't have to be that way. There are some things that communities can do on their own instead of always going to the RCMP.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Chief Picard, are these the forms of self-determination that you envisioned with respect to policing?