Indigenous Policing

Public Safety Canada (PS) works with provinces and territories to co-fund an enhanced level of policing in some First Nation and Inuit communities. Indigenous, policing and provincial/ territorial (PT) stakeholders have repeatedly called for reforms to improve the delivery of policing services to better meet the needs of Indigenous communities, to close gaps and to resolve inequities in the financing of, and access to, Indigenous policing.

Relevant Mandate Letter Commitments

Further Information

The First Nations and Inuit Policing Program

The First Nations and Inuit Policing Program (FNIPP) provides funding for professional, dedicated and responsive policing services to First Nation and Inuit communities in Canada. At the close of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023, the FNIPP supported over 1,700 officer positions in over 425 First Nations and Inuit communities, representing roughly 63% of First Nation and Inuit Communities in Canada.

FNIPP policing agreements are cost-shared between the federal government (52%) and the relevant province or territory (48%). This cost-share ratio reflects a shared interest pursuant to the Constitution Act, 1867, where the federal government has legislative jurisdiction for “Indians, and lands reserved for Indians” (s.91(24)) and PTs have exercised their legislative jurisdiction over the administration of justice, including policing (s.92(14)).

There are two main models supported by FNIPP funding:

The FNIPP was created in 1991 and has faced increasing criticism for being inappropriate for funding an essential service such as policing. Recent reports, such as the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) stress the limits of the current model while pointing to the need for fundamental transformation.

Specifically, Call for Justice 5.4 from the MMIWG National Inquiry’s Final Report states,

“We call upon all governments to immediately and dramatically transform Indigenous policing from its current state as a mere delegation to an exercise in self-governance and self-determination over policing. To do this, the federal government’s First Nations Policing Program must be replaced with a new legislative and funding framework, consistent with international and domestic policing best practices and standards, that must be developed by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments in partnership with Indigenous Peoples.”

Despite the progress made by the FNIPP since 1991, Indigenous Peoples in Canada allege their communities do not have equitable access to the same level of policing and community safety services as non-Indigenous people, pointing to the FNIPP’s shortcomings as the reason for their policing equity gaps.

The Funding for First Nations and Inuit Policing Facilities Program

PS also manages and administers the First Nation and Inuit Policing Facilities Program(FNIPFP), which provides dedicated funding to support the construction, renovation or repair of policing facilities in First Nation and Inuit communities. FNIPFP was announced in 2018 with a budget of $88.6 million over five years, and investments are similarly cost shared with PTs (52% from the federal government and 48% from the PT government, or from the First Nation or Inuit community). Since the implementation of this program in 2018-19, the demand, often located in northern and remote communities, has far exceeded the funding envelope.

Budget 2021 announced $861 million over five years, beginning in 2021-22, and $145 million ongoing, to support culturally responsive policing and community safety services in Indigenous communities. This includes:

Although the FNIPP and FNIPFP has had a positive impact on Indigenous communities, systemic funding issues and inequitable access to culturally appropriate policing remain. Budget 2021 investments are fully subscribed, however, gaps in program coverage remain across the country. In addition to being unable to support the growing demand for new or expanded First Nations police services, First Nations and Inuit police services continue to report critical shortfalls in such areas as the number of officers and policing facilities, and despite an annual 2.75% escalator on program funding, have been unable to keep up with the costs of inflation.

Program gaps and shortcomings have left the Government of Canada vulnerable to current and future litigation alleging inequitable access to policing for Indigenous communities, including civil court claims, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) complaints, and Charter challenges Recent court (Takuhikan) and CHRT (Dominique) decisions have not been in Canada’s favour, including findings of discrimination and failing to uphold the Honour of the Crown.

Legislative Initiative: Co-development of First Nations Police Services Legislation

First Nations have long called for reform to how First Nations police services are funded in Canada, and have advocated for legislation that recognizes First Nations police services as an essential service through equitable, adequate and stable federal funding. The Minister of Public Safety’s December 2019 mandate letter (and subsequent letters in January and December 2021) directed the co-development of legislation that recognizes First Nations police services as essential services. The objective of the legislation is to recognize First Nations police services as essential services by supporting them with adequate funding. In addition, First Nations police services would continue to be subject to PT policing legislation, regulations and standards.

To advance this work, PS has entered into contribution agreements and established relationships with First Nations organizations such as the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association (FNCPA) and the First Nations Police Governance Council (FNPGC). In Spring 2022, PS completed its formal engagement process on this issue and released a "What we Heard" report in September 2022.

Significantly, in early 2023, the AFN publicly released Resolution 51/2022, which directs the AFN to “recommend that the future FNIPP legislation be modelled after Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis children, youth and families, in that federal policing legislation must allow First Nations to enact their own community policing legislation, ensuring true First Nation jurisdiction over justice and policing systems that will serve First Nations in a culturally appropriate and respectful manner free from systemic racism and discrimination.” Previous AFN resolutions focused on ensuring adequate funding for First Nations police services and were silent on the issue of First Nation jurisdiction over policing.

In response, the Government of Canada reaffirmed to AFN leadership that the scope of the mandate to co-develop First Nations police services legislation is focused on recognizing and supporting them as essential services and that PT jurisdiction over policing, including First Nations police services, would be respected. A commitment was also made to exploring the issue of First Nations self-determination and jurisdiction concerning community safety and security via a separate, exploratory process. This approach recognizes that policing is one component of the broader administration of justice system and that First Nations jurisdiction over the whole system needs to be analyzed and considered.

PS has developed Objectives and Guiding Principles to set the policy framework for the federal First Nations police services legislation. These Objectives and Guiding Principles were informed by engagement, reports received to date, discussions with policing experts, including the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association and the First Nations Police Governance Council, as well as with PTs. These were shared with First Nations communities and organizations in July 2023.

PS officials will seek to validate the policy framework and develop legislative options for the eventual bill with partners, including hosting technical discussions with policing experts.

Provincial/Territorial Perspectives

PTs are responsible for the administration of justice and play a central role in regulating and funding policing services in First Nations and Inuit communities. PTs have signaled that Indigenous policing is an important priority for them and there is strong interest in advancing reconciliation and responding to Indigenous community needs by cost-sharing new or expanded FNIPP agreements, co-funding investments under the FNIPFP, or by participating in other Indigenous community safety initiatives (i.e. Community Safety Officers). PT governments have also advocated for additional federal funding for the FNIPP for several years.

Role of Indigenous Organizations

Indigenous leadership has stressed the urgency of moving forward with policing reforms and there are high expectations that reform activities will advance in the short-to-medium-term.

The AFN has passed multiple resolutions related to reforming First Nations policing and has undertaken engagement with First Nations to support the co-development of the First Nations police services legislation. The FNCPA and FNPGC are also strong advocates for First Nations police services legislation and continue to inform the legislation.  Calls for Indigenous policing reform have also been made by Inuit and Métis leaders.

In response,PS has launched engagement with key Inuit and Métis partners to better understand their unique policing and community safety priorities. In preliminary engagement, Inuit partners showed a continued interest in participating in facilitated engagement sessions, which has extended the timelines. Bilateral virtual engagement sessions have been held since early February 2023 with representatives from across the regions of Inuit Nunangat, ITK, and Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada.

In parallel, Métis partners expressed a keen interest in focusing their engagement in a direct government-to-government context through a permanent bilateral mechanism between Canada and the Métis Nation. As a result, PS recently established a joint Justice and Policing Working Group to bring together representatives from the Métis Nation and various government departments and agencies (e.g, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)) to identify key priorities and work toward concrete changes and solutions.

PS officials have also been working with Métis to continue to support whole-of-government reconciliation efforts to align legislation, programs, and initiatives with articles in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the subsequent United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Act. As of March 2023, PS is working with Métis on Action Plan Measures, which represents a significant milestone for Canada’s relationship with the Metis in the criminal justice sphere.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act/United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA) came into force on June 21, 2021. The Act sets out a framework for implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) at the federal level in alignment with Canada’s constitution. It reaffirms rights and practices protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom as well as under the s. 35 of the Constitution Act. The Act is intrinsically linked to other reconciliation frameworks such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the National Inquiry of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

To implement the UNDA Action Plan from 2023-2028, advance reconciliation and respond to legal obligations, PS and portfolio partners will align legislation, programs, and initiatives with articles of UNDRIP. This may result in the development and implementation of new initiatives or the redesign of existing initiatives. These efforts must be carried out in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous Peoples. Current efforts includes, but are not limited to:

The final Action Plan is being tabled in Parliament and was released publicly on June 21, 2023. Federal departments and agencies are expected to implement the Action Plan Measures and to report on their progress every June through the UNDA Annual Progress Report. A preliminary assessment is ongoing and will include any potential funding pressures.

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