The Federal Court has ordered Public Safety Canada to extend funding to three Indigenous police services for 12 months after a lack of funding threatened to shut them down.
The Anishinabek Police Service (APS), UCCM Anishnaabe Police Service and Treaty Three Police Service (T3PS) haven’t received federal funding since March 31, after negotiations with Ottawa stalled over elements of a funding system the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario (IPCO) have said discriminates against Indigenous people.
The three police services cover 45 First Nations across Ontario, including Garden River, with a combined population of around 30,000 people.
Anishinabek Nation, Grand Council Treaty Three and the United Chiefs and Councils of Mnidoo Mnising all declared a state of emergency for communities affected by the impasse in negotiations.
When it came time to renegotiate their agreements, the police services and the government reached an impasse over some terms within the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program (FNIPP), which the police services say hamper their ability to serve the communities they’re in.
The funding is cost-shared — 52 per cent by the federal government and 48 per cent by the province — and is administered jointly by Public Safety Canada and the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General.
Indigenous police forces operate on fixed-term government grants, which require regular negotiation.
The three police services, which account for one-third of police agencies represented by IPCO, have contended that one section of the FNIPP in particular restricts Indigenous police services from accessing specialized services — such as a canine unit or emergency response teams — and costs related to loans and legal advice.
IPCO has said this essentially prevents First Nation police services from owning infrastructure and recouping expenses related to legal advice in negotiating the FNIPP.
The three First Nation police forces and IPCO also consider the government’s bargaining of the FNIPP as a take-it-or-leave-it approach due to “unconscionable bargaining tactics” by Public Safety Canada.
In a decision handed down on Friday, Federal Court Justice Denis Gascon ruled that IPCO provided “clear, compelling, and non-speculative evidence demonstrating that the Indigenous communities served by the three Police Services will suffer irreparable harm if mandatory injunctive relief is not granted.”
Gascon also noted in his decision that he found it “fundamentally incorrect and somewhat troubling” for Ottawa to label the restrictions for police services contained in the terms and conditions of the FNIPP as ‘constraints.’
“A self-imposed limitation or restriction over which a person has total control is not a constraint. It is a choice,” Gascon said in his decision.
In addition to extending federal funding for a 12-month period, Gascon also ruled that T3PS, APS and UCCM Anishnaabe Police Service will not have to comply with the terms of the FNIPP related to loans and legal costs that had been a sticking point during their negotiations with Ottawa.
A request put forward by IPCO in its court motion to suspend those terms outright, however, was denied.
- with files from Sudbury.com