Thank you very much.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for giving this opportunity to the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association to address you this evening. My name is John Syrette. I'm the police chief of the Anishinabek Police Service, but I'm also the president of the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association.
I have with me Mr. John Domm, who is the police chief of the Rama Police Service in Ontario. He's formerly the police chief of the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service, which is headquartered out of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Our association, the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association, was incorporated in 1992. We bring together chiefs of police from self-administered police services and agreements that resulted from the 1991 approval of the first nations policing policy, the FNPP. The mandate of the association is to serve first nations police services in first nations territories across Canada by facilitating the highest level of professionalism and accountability in police services, all in a manner that reflects the unique cultures, constitutional status, social circumstances, traditions, and aspirations of first nations. Our membership is small. We have approximately 60 police chiefs who are part of our association.
You are probably aware that there are 38 self-administered, stand-alone services through the tripartite agreements under the first nations policing policy, located in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. The communities we serve include distinct first nations, many with their own language and cultural traditions. The multiple challenges that our communities face are well-known to you and to most Canadians, specifically: poverty; unemployment; housing; access to medical and social services; substance abuse; literacy and education levels; and, lastly, the residential school legacy, among many other things.
There are significant factors that contribute to violence in our communities, including violence against women. As we know, many women leave their communities and our reserves for larger urban centres and become victims of violence there.
This committee's concern about the well-being of aboriginal women is welcome. We hope that your work will have some influence on the federal government's response to the conditions that lead to violence against aboriginal women, regardless of where it takes place.
In our view, addressing the root causes is the most important prevention strategy.