Public Safety committee  I think what a lot of this boils down to is removing barriers. There are a number of barriers, especially in our indigenous police services, that we have been allowed to remove so that we can attract more, recruit more and be more successful in getting our recruits to the trainin

Public Safety committee  No, I have not been approached personally from a professional standpoint at this point. I have extended my services, like I am today, to the commander in Manitoba. As well, I have informal colleagues with the RCMP to share some of these ideas with, as well as the CACP. I also sit

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. The biggest area, obviously, is human resources. More officers provide more safety. This provides more safety and security for our communities, which ultimately, as we're all aware, is a human right. Currently, our indigenous communities across Canada do not receive t

Public Safety committee  Absolutely, and organizations like IPCO and the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association should be at that table as subject matter experts, and not brought late to the game like we often are.

Public Safety committee  That is standard. I think throwing a large number like that out there makes it seem as though there's a lot being put into things. Larger organizations such as the RCMP and the OPP are also involved in that funding. What ends up happening is that, in the smaller indigenous serv

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. My experience with this would be that there would have to be a process. Currently, here in Ontario, first nations policing is not a part of the Police Services Act, but we're working on being legislated into it, which would allow us to become essential services. Tha

Public Safety committee  Thank you very much for that question. I'm very happy to answer this. There is no difference. Our officers are trained to the same standard that every officer in Ontario is trained to, and that goes for all IPCO representation, so 500 indigenous policing services officers across

Public Safety committee  Absolutely, the OPP are definitely partners in policing with indigenous police services across Ontario. Commissioner Carrique and the men and women who serve with him in the Ontario Provincial Police are partners with us through and through. What I can say, though, is that we ar

Public Safety committee  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 commu

Public Safety committee  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 polic

Public Safety committee  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 w

Public Safety committee  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