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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Blame game won't solve problems

By: Editorial

Posted: 09/14/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

(DALE CUMMINGS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

It was always unclear how remote aboriginal communities handled troublemakers when police service was unavailable, as it frequently is not, but nothing was left to the imagination following the release of photographs showing a man shackled and chained in the locker room of the arena at Northlands Denesuline First Nation.

The images, assuming they were true representations, looked like something out of a torture cell in a Third World dictatorship, but they testify to the grim choices aboriginal people are forced to make on a range of issues. Whether it's the absence of indoor plumbing and clean drinking water, or access to health care and quality education, Canada's native peoples endure conditions faced only by the world's poorest people.

The Northlands band says it has been forced to detain people at least four times since June, when two specially trained band constables quit their jobs. They were the only people on the reserve near Lac Brochet with the authority to unlock the local RCMP detachment and use its jail cells.

Like most northern reserves, the band has an RCMP detachment, but it is staffed irregularly. In major emergencies, the community has to wait for officers to fly in, a process that means dangerous situations can fester for long periods of time. Relatively minor issues, such as public intoxication, might not demand a rapid response, leaving the reserve to its own meagre resources.

The RCMP will only hand over the keys to its facilities to band constables who have completed a special course, but for reasons that aren't clear, no training has taken placed since 2010.

Typically, the dispute has degenerated into a finger-pointing dispute between the federal and provincial governments, which are jointly responsible for funding police services in aboriginal communities.

There was also the usual confusion about the facts, with the province claiming ordinary band constables can make a citizen's arrest, even if they don't have the training demanded by the RCMP, while Ottawa claims that might be an unlawful detention.

Fortunately, as John Hutton of the John Howard Society says, this is a problem with a solution.

Instead of bickering from afar, all sides in the issue should hold a meeting and resolve the matter for the sake of public safety, which is one of the prime responsibilities of government.

The federal and provincial governments, RCMP and aboriginal leadership should be able to find a way to enable remote communities to protect their people without chaining people to a concrete floor, which could easily lead to an even greater tragedy.

In fact, the two levels of government should develop a process for resolving the jurisdictional squabbles that too frequently overshadow the need for immediate answers on First Nations.

Any solution will involve more training, but the ability to manage people who are a threat to themselves or others should not depend on the availability of one or two people.

A little community-minded common sense combined with government co-operation could go a long way to providing a safe alternative for everyone.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 14, 2012 A12

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