Samantha Craggs
Friday, June 15, 2007 - 10:00
Belleville Intelligencer
Policing on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory may change next year when a contract expires with the Ontario Provincial Police to administer the reserve's police force.
A grassroots community working group has been gauging public opinion since last year as well as examining alternatives to the current arrangement, which sees the OPP handle administrative tasks for the local Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory Police, said Brant Bardy, spokesman for the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte.
"We need more adequate and equitable policing," said Bardy. "Obviously the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte have concerns, and those concerns have to be discussed."
Bardy declined to elaborate on those concerns, however. The working group of about six people has been examining the community's policing needs and surveying residents, he said.
Tyendinaga has an eight-member force, although its chief is currently suspended for allegedly making comments about what he deemed to be "racism" in the OPP.
The OPP polices the reserve when there are no Tyendinaga officers working, or when it is called in, said OPP Sgt. Kristine Rae.
There is a history of tension between First Nations and the OPP, but it has become more acute since the results of the provincial Ipperwash Inquiry, which examined the shooting death of aboriginal protester Dudley George, said Bardy. Such tensions may be the root of a recent confrontation between Mohawks and OPP officers on Highway 49, he said.
"Relations between First Nations and the OPP are, I guess, kind of strained," he said. "There is a kind of a blanket solidarity (after Ipperwash)."
The current arrangement, wherein the OPP administers, hires and trains Tyendinaga officers, has been ongoing since 1991, Bardy said. The arrangement began through MBQ's membership to the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians, which signed the contract on behalf of its member organizations. That contract expires in early 2008.
Many questions remain, such as what the band can afford in terms of policing, said Bardy. But local Mohawks feel more comfortable with their own officers.
"We saw an example of that at the quarry," said Bardy, referring to a Deseronto-area quarry where Mohawk protesters have stayed since March. "If it wouldn't have been for our own police, it could've been a much worse situation."
A Prince Edward County officer stopped along the side of the road June 6 when he was confronted by two Mohawk men, police said in a statement. The confrontation escalated to include several more Mohawks and officers, and Tyendinaga police were called in to ease the situation.
Some reserves, such as Akwesasne Mohawk reserve, have independent police forces where the OPP doesn't enter the territory unless called, Rae said. Others have the OPP provide all of their policing service.