Strategy for a Safer Ontario

Background

On February 10, 2016, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) launched province-wide consultations on the Strategy for a Safer Ontario (SSO), an initiative to reform policing in Ontario. It focused on four key policing areas: accountability and oversight, improved interactions between vulnerable Ontarians and the police, clarification of police duties, and the creation of a legislative framework for First Nation police services.

The plan established several major projects and short timelines, including major legislative amendments to the Police Services Act (PSA), implementation of a “hub model” of community policing, enhancing Ontario’s response to missing persons, improving Coroner’s Inquests especially for Indigenous communities, and enacting Ontario’s strategy to end human trafficking.

All of these initiatives will impact First Nations, but the most significant change will be legislative changes to the PSA. Currently, First Nations police operates as a program, not an essential public service, a designation that has significant and tangible ramifications for First Nation police and the communities they serve. Operating as a “program” means that First Nation police are inadequately funded and therefore have insufficient staff and equipment, underpaid officers relative to provincial police services, and no civilian oversight mechanisms.

Work this Year
COO has coordinated MCSCS work with First Nations and First Nations chiefs of police for several years. From 2008-2013 MCSCS participated in a joint bi-lateral sub-table on First Nations’ Policing with First Nations political and police service representatives focused on creating a legislative basis for First Nations policing. 

Chiefs of Ontario received the SSO and proposed amendments to the PSA and, guided by the 43 resolutions on policing from the Chiefs in Assembly, informed Ontario that more time to review the draft SSO was needed. Specifically Resolution 13/21 of the Chiefs in Assembly (First Nations Police Services in Ontario in Crisis Situation) supported the exploration for a request for regulatory change under the Police Services Act so that First Nation police services would fall under the legal definition of a police force. Ontario then worked with COO to structure meaningful engagement concerning the SSO.

The Chiefs of Ontario Executive Office coordinated information sharing sessions of the political/technical table with membership depending on the location. Four sessions took place: February 13-14 in Thunder Bay, March 29 in Six Nations, April 12-13 in Thunder Bay and April 19 in North Bay.

Chiefs of Ontario prepared a Policy Position Paper on the SSO, which recommended key policy and legislative changes that came from these engagement sessions. They include updating the principles within the PSA to recognize the need to respond to the unique context of First Nation, and to ensure equitable funding for First Nation police services. These changes will be completed on an opt-in basis so that self-administered police services will be able apply to be covered by the act. Doing so would enable these First Nation police services to access funding and oversight mechanisms. In June 2017 this policy paper was presented to the All Ontario Chiefs Conference.

Next Steps
The Ministry is finalizing the SSO, including the major amendments to the PSA. Currently, the Ministry is claiming it will be tabled on the first parliamentary calendar sitting day of the Fall session, 2017. This is one sitting day following their last deadline (the last parliamentary calendar sitting day of Spring session 2017). MCSCS has indicated that it is interested in re-engaging with partners over the summer to better implement the Policy Position Paper recommendations, as well as to respond to the Independent Police Oversight Review.

Once the legislation is tabled, MCSCS will enact policy-level changes to better respond to First Nation needs, particularly those expressed by existing First Nation police services. Continued engagement will take place in the fall so that this transition period will be as smooth as possible.

Chiefs of Ontario will continue to engage with the Ministry, as directed by the Chiefs in Assembly, to ensure that equitable and culturally appropriate policing exists in First Nation communities. MCSCS is also seeking to work with COO and PTOs in continued engagement following the introduction of legislation, including who is interested in the new options under the revised PSA and how to develop regulations and policies.