'Not acceptable:' northern Ontario communities fight to save OPP detachment

Four small towns and a First Nation near Sudbury are trying to save their Ontario Provincial Police detachment after learning the police forces is considering shutting it down.

The OPP's detachment in Noëlville has been on the closure list for at least 12 years, according to French River Mayor Gisèle Pageau. Noëlville is within her municipality.

As recently as November, provincial police said there were no immediate plans to close the station. Recent rumours in the community, however, led Pageau to ask OPP for an update. She said the police told her they were working on a ministry brief, recommending the closure of Noëlville detachment.

"We were reassured that, before anything would even begin, that there would be some consultation with the municipality and the residents in each of the four communities that Noëlville services. And that didn't happen," Pageau said.

The Noëlville detachment is a satellite office from the main OPP detachment in Sudbury. It services the municipalities of French River, St. Charles, Killarney and Markstay-Warren.

The OPP has closed several satellite detachments in northeastern Ontario over recent years, including Still River, Manitowaning, Mindemoya, Warren, Matheson and Smooth Rock Falls.

The force has said its officers have enough tools to work out of their cruisers in many situations, rather than frequently returning to a detachment.

Pageau said losing the detachment would be difficult for French River. Despite the OPP's assurance that service levels won't change, she said she expected both the perception of policing, and the actual service levels, to take a hit.

She said 10 officers are based out of her community's detachment, and they've been given an option of reporting to either the Sudbury or West Nipissing (Cache Bay) detachments. That may pull them toward service calls in the larger centres.

"I don't buy it for a minute that ... two [officers] will be in our areas every day," said Pageau. 

People living in the Noëlville detachment service area have begun circulating a petition that urges the province to keep the police station open. Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas has also supported that effort.

Pageau said it was worrying that, had it not been for the rumours, she may have been shut out of the detachment closure decision entirely.

"We would have been told what was going on, and we wouldn't have had a chance to gather our citizens, you know, and get them informed about what's happening," she said.

Pageau said French River's permanent population is about 2,600, but that number grows to around 10,000 in the summer, which means policing needs could be underestimated.