Intertribal Life Newspaper -

TORONTO, Ont.-According to Canadian Press, in its 26 years of existence, officers with Canada's largest Indigenous police force have never shot and killed anyone, nor has any officer died in the line of duty. The Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) is proud of this record. The key difference from urban, non-Indigenous policing, insiders and observers say, is the relationship building between officers and the people they serve.

Part of the reason for developing those skills comes from the traditional lack of resources, Roland Morrison, chief of NAPS told Canadian Press. "In the past, you might have been the only officer in there. You would have no radio, you've got no backup, so you really effectively have to use your communication and talk to people. You have to develop relationships with the communities in order to have positive policing."

Inaugurated in 1994, NAPS polices more than 38,000 people in 34 communities, many across northern Ontario. Currently the service has 203 officers, about 60 percent of them Indigenous, Morrison says. Its mandate is culturally responsive policing. And some experts say people have a higher level of trust when officers are Indigenous. And without as many language and cultural barriers, the officers better understand and know how to deal with the issues at hand-advantages RCMP recruits may not have.

The service in Kahnawake, Que., is another example of Indigenous policing. The group calls itself the Kahnawake Peacekeepers rather than a police force.

While all officers in Ontario undergo the same basic training, the province's nine Indigenous police services are fundamentally different from their non-Indigenous counterparts.

For one thing, they are not deemed an essential service, although federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said that policing First Nations communities should be. Nor are those in Ontario subject to the provincial Police Services Act, which mandates standards, including for an extensive oversight framework.

Another difference is that Indigenous forces rely on the vagaries of government program funding -with Ottawa footing 52 percent of the bill and provinces 48 percent, according to Canadian Press. The current operations budget for NAPS, for example, is around $37.7 million-more than its peers-with expenses approaching $40 million. In more than a dozen cases, Indigenous self-administered police services in Canada have simply folded. 

One former chief of NAPS, Terry Armstrong, says people would be shocked to find out just how poorly funded First Nations policing has been. During his tenure as chief, Armstrong always stressed the importance of treating people respectfully.

Armstrong recounts how a few years ago, in the Hudson Bay community of Fort Severn, Ont., a NAPS officer found himself dealing with a homicide. Besides having to secure three crime scenes and the body, the lone officer had to arrest the suspect and deal with a separate gun call. Bad weather prevented any forensic or other help flying in until the following day.

One thing he always stressed to newcomers as chief, Armstrong says, is the importance of treating people respectfully.

"Some day, they're going to be your backup. When stuff goes south, you're going to need people to support you," he told Canadian Press.