Parliamentary Committee Notes: Recognizing First Nations police services as essential services

Proposed Response:

If Pressed Responses:

Do provinces/territories support this initiative?

Do you have the support of the Assembly of First Nations?

How much would this legislation cost to implement?

Background:

The December 2021 mandate letters of the Ministers of Public Safety, Indigenous Services and Crown–Indigenous Relations direct Ministers to: Continue to work with First Nations partners to co-develop a legislative framework for First Nations policing.

The mandate received aims to support First Nations police services through a federal legislation which would recognize First Nations police services as an essential service. The envisioned legislation would be primarily designed to: govern federal conduct, including with respect to equitable and predictable levels of funding; reaffirm Canada’s commitment to upholding modern treaties and self-government agreements; and, complement provincial/territorial policing legislation.

In March 2022, Public Safety Canada launched an engagement process to inform the co-development of First Nations police services legislation, resulting in the release of a What We Heard Report later that year.

Informed by the input received through this and other ongoing engagement with First Nations, First Nations organizations, First Nations police services, First Nations police boards/commissions, provincial and territorial representatives as well as subject matter experts and others, Public Safety Canada developed with its key partners Objectives and Guiding Principles to inform the legislation. These were shared broadly with First Nations in summer 2023.

Following further collaborative work with subject matter experts – like the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association and First Nations Police Governance Council – and provincial and territorial representatives, elements were developed in fall 2023, which are meant to set out the policy intent of the proposed legislation.

These elements are being finalized with key partners based on national engagement led by the Indigenous Leadership Development Initiative in February and March 2024 . The revised elements will inform the drafting of a bill.

The co-development of First Nations police services legislation is also a commitment made in the Federal Pathway, the Government of Canada’s response to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls final report. Additionally, passing First Nations police services legislation would fulfill Action Plan Measure FN10 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan 2023-2028.

Date modified: