Mon Feb 25, 5:27 PM
By Chinta Puxley, The Canadian Press
TORONTO - Police officers on one of Ontario's largest aboriginal territories can't be expected to keep emptying slop buckets in detachments with no running water or using bonfires for heat inside dilapidated plywood buildings, the community's chiefs and leaders said Monday.
After meeting with Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci, the leaders of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation said they are giving the province 30 days to start bringing 34 of the territory's 35 police detachments up to minimum building standards before the local police are forced to pull out of the community entirely.
It's inhumane and ridiculous for aboriginal police officers to have to empty slop buckets or work in conditions that wouldn't be acceptable in any other provincial police detachment in Ontario, said the nation's Grand Chief Stan Beardy.
"Are there are two standards of policing in Ontario and Canada?" Beardy said following the meeting at the Ontario legislature.
"We don't have detachments for them to work out of. We don't have proper housing for them or proper equipment. We've been talking about this issue for 13 years now. ... What we need is some action today."
The cost of policing is a shared responsibility between the federal and provincial governments. But rather than point the finger at Ottawa, Beardy said the provincial Liberals could show some good faith by putting their share of the cash on the table.
The aging detachments on the remote northern territory - made up of 49 First Nations communities covering two-thirds of Ontario - were left behind by provincial police in 1994 and need an estimated $23 million to bring them all up to code.
The territory has already had to close two of its police stations because the working conditions were unsafe, Beardy said. Most detachments are plywood fire hazards that are infested with rodents and rest on crumbling foundations, he added.
Two years ago, a fire at one of the police detachments in Kashechewan killed two prisoners and severely injured a police officer.
"We don't want to lose any more people," said Grand Chief Stan Louttit of the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council, which oversees Kashechewan.
"How many more times will that happen before people wake up?"
Police resources are so stretched that 24-hour policing is a dream rather than a reality, Louttit said. When people can't reach the police after 2 a.m., they call their local chief, who is then expected to deal with everything from break-ins to gunplay, he added.
"How many mayors and premiers actually do policing as part of their elected life?" Louttit asked.
After 13 years of negotiating with the various levels of government, Kashechewan Chief Jonathan Solomon said it's time for Ontario to help end the double standard.
"We should not be treated any less than any other police service in this province or across Canada," Solomon said. "We're still closing down detachments. I'm getting very frustrated. The health and safety of my people is being compromised."
Bartolucci said it was tough not to be moved by the plight of these aboriginal police detachments. But he didn't make any specific promises of immediate help beyond fulfilling Ontario's commitment to share funding with the federal government and press Ottawa to come up with the cash.
"There is some work to be done," Bartolucci said in an interview. "I'm certainly sympathetic and my government is sympathetic to the issues facing First Nations communities. Ontario will continue to be a willing partner."
But opposition critics called the Liberals' lack of action "a disgrace." New Democrat Gilles Bisson said it's time for the governing Liberals to show they are serious about a recent promise to build a new relationship with the province's aboriginals.
"What's new about this relationship? We've seen the same old game for years and years," Bisson said.
"It doesn't take a lot to fix this problem. If this government is serious about addressing the inadequacies within our First Nations ... this is like $11 million in a $100-billion budget."
Conservative critic Garfield Dunlop said no police officer should have to work under such conditions. It's up to Ontario to make the first move and put some money on the table, he said.
"This is a disgrace," he said. "The province has to show leadership here. Let's get a lot of these detachments fixed up."