'Very sporadic': Treaty Six First Nations says consultations on provincial police force fell short

Edmonton -

The Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations says it is not on board with a provincial police force to replace the RCMP, and that proper consultations were not done with its members.

“Very sporadic discussions on this, nothing finite,” said Cameron Alexis, interim executive director for the Confederacy.

At the end of October, the province released the Alberta Provincial Police Service Transition Study. The report found switching to a provincial service would be costly, though Justice Minister Kaycee Madu insisted it would ultimately cost the same as the RCMP.

Regardless, Alexis says it’s not something Treaty Six First Nations will support.

“Has the RCMP done a great job as well? The answer is no. However, we’ve made it very clear to Minister Madu that we do not want a provincial police force on our reserves.”

Alexis says if there are going to be changes to policing, the Confederacy is interested in establishing its own force – something that has been in discussion since the 90s.

In fact, Alexis says there is currently a federal funding option for First Nations to develop their own police force, and Treaty Six wants access.

“We want the feds in their fiduciary responsibilities to begin a process immediately to fund the Treaty Six Nations to start building their own fully self-administered police services,” he said.

“Who knows best for our nation? It’s us.”

During the presentation of the study, Minister Madu said no decisions have been made, and that a public survey would be completed in 2022.