Earlier this month, the Chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations called for a Canada-wide First Nations Policing Association. Bobby Cameron suggests it would be driven by First Nations leadership and the band members, and would be funded similar to the way the RCMP is funded.

He notes that the federal government has said that policing is an essential service, but Cameron emphasizes that for First Nations people it’s a Treaty right. It would mean policing in the community, for the community, by the community. Saskatchewan has one Indigenous police service – the File Hills First Nations Police Service, which serves five First Nation’s in the province’s southeast.

The Chief of the Buffalo River Dene Nation would like to see an Indigenous policing body in her community. Chief Norma Catarat explains that First nations are under federal regulations, but the court system is provincial, so any bylaws enacted by the community can’t be enforced. She gives the example of dog control bylaws. They don’t have that in their community, because there is nobody to enforce it.