FIRST NATION POLICE SERVICES DEMAND THEIR DAY IN COURT
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Posted by Shelby Percival
- Posted in BlogsNews
On December 5, 2024, the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario (“IPCO”) held a press conference in Ottawa, ON, providing an update on their Canadian human rights complaint. IPCO’s complaint, launched in March 2023, challenges Canada’s discriminatory implementation of the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program (“FNIPP”), which has resulted in decades of chronic underfunding of First Nations’ community safety.
The hearing of IPCO’s complaint is scheduled to begin January 6, 2024. The Tribunal has set aside three weeks for the start of the hearing.
IPCO’s Complaint is the culmination of decades of advocacy trying to fix a broken system. The FNIPP was founded in the 1990s, but its founding principles – all laid out in the 1996 First Nations Policing Policy (the “Policy”) – have been ignored by Canada, for decades.
The Complaint targets the FNIPP and its “Program Model”, which imposes restrictive funding terms and is characterized by Canada’s refusal to negotiate funding with communities. It also focuses on Canada’s unconscionable bargaining tactics, alongside their longstanding pattern of under-funding and imposing arbitrary restrictions on services, highlighting the detrimental impact this has had on Indigenous community safety.
Canada has attempted to do everything possible to avoid, delay, and adjourn the hearing. First Nation community leadership and IPCO representatives spoke with the media today to call for an end to Canada’s stall tactics and to demand that the matter move forward as the safety, and livelihood, of First Nations people continues to be at stake.
VIDEO: First Nations Leaders and Police Representatives Hold News Conference (Dec. 5, 2024)
Relevant Documents:
- IPCO Press Release and Appendix – Dec. 5, 2024
- Quebec (Attorney General) v Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan, 2024 SCC 39.
Key Judgments in IPCO’s ongoing Human Rights Complaint:
- IPCO v Public Safety Canada, 2024 CHRT 104: Tribunal dismisses Canada’s “Scope” Motion.
- IPCO v Public Safety Canada, 2023 FC 916: Federal Court Orders Emergency Injunction against Canada.
Media Coverage:
- David Ebner, The Globe and Mail (Nov. 27, 2024) – “Quebec failed obligations to First Nation in police funding talks, Supreme Court rules”
- Kate Rutherford, CBC News (Dec. 5, 2024) – “Indigenous police chiefs claim federal government stalling on human rights tribunal hearing”
- Joy SpearChief-Morris, The Star (Dec. 5, 2024) – “Canada urged to quit stalling on First Nations police funds“
- Leigh Nunan, SNnewswatch (Dec. 5, 2024) – “‘Lives depend on it’: First Nations push back against delays on police funding“
Previous Postings:
- https://falconers.ca/supreme-court-ruling-confirms-indigenous-right-to-the-same-community-safety-standards-as-all-canadians/ – Nov. 27, 2024
- https://falconers.ca/president-of-ipco-federal-court-decision-vindicates-position-of-indigenous-police-services/ – July 1, 2023
- https://falconers.ca/federal-court-orders-funds-to-flow-for-indigenous-police-services/ – June 30, 2023
