Meadow Lake Tribal Council urges province to improve public safety up north
CBC
Leaders from the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) say they need urgent support to improve public safety in their communities.
MLTC represents nine First Nations in northern Saskatchewan. Representatives spoke at a news conference in Saskatoon on Wednesday, asking for help from the provincial and federal governments to improve police presence.
“We have 2,000 people and there’s not a police force there,” MLTC Cree Vice Chief Richard Durocher said at the event. “Ask yourself, why is that?”
Chiefs said violence is steadily on the rise, and that an increase of gang activity has upped the number of addictions and overdoses in Indigenous communities.
They also made note of the housing crisis plaguing remote areas up north, with up to 12 people squeezed into one home to make ends meet.
“In our community, with up to 10, 12 people in a home, where does that young person go when he or she gets in an argument with their parents?” Durocher asked.
“He or she has to leave the home, and guess who's waiting outside? Addictions. Gangs.”
Tribal council members said they want their own Indigenous-led police force one day, but that an initiative like that isn’t currently possible.
Instead, they want the RCMP currently assigned to northern communities to improve response times.
“You have to wait over an hour for a police officer to get to your community,” Durocher said. “[That’s] unheard of in the city.”
In a statement to CBC, Saskatchewan RCMP said multiple factors influence response times, including how expansive the north is, weather conditions and the volume of calls they receive.
“We do not want to see any more overdose deaths in the communities we serve, and do what we are able to in order to prevent them, while acknowledging that the RCMP and police in general are only one part of the solution,” RCMP wrote.
MLTC members said the solution is for the province to supply more police support up north immediately.
Chiefs called for more federal police funding and said they want to talk with the province about how the recently-established Marshalls Service could help.
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