UCCM Anishnaabe Police move ahead on their own as negotiations on federal funding continue

The police chief of a small Indigenous service on Manitoulin Island says uncertainty about the organization's eventual funding formula isn't holding him back from making big changes now.

James Killeen was sworn in as chief of UCCM Anishnaabe Police four years ago, and has been battling the federal government over the terms of the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program for much of that time.

He's not alone.

UCCM along with Treaty 3 and Anishinabek Police had refused to renew their contracts in 2023, saying chronic underfunding puts officers and the communities they serve at risk.

In response, the federal government stopped funding them altogether.

The impasse ended up in court with a federal judge ordering emergency funding to flow.

Almost two years later, court-ordered negotiations continue to try to come to a new funding formula that would put First Nations police on equal standing with their non-Indigenous counterparts.

The federal government provides 52 per cent of funding for First Nations police with the province providing 48 per cent.

The three police forces, represented by the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario (IPCO), are also challenging terms of their contract that ban Indigenous police from hiring specialized officers for drug or major crime investigations, or own their own buildings.

At UCCM Anishnaabe headquarters in M'Chigeeng First Nation, Killeen says he vividly remembers the day he had to tell his staff and officers that their funding was cut.

"It's a scary feeling when that was happening," he said.

"I had a lot of nervous employees here, people saying what are we going to do? What happens? Do I need to look for another job? And I asked everyone to believe in what we were doing and to believe and to trust me and that we would get through this."

Sergeant Todd Fox remembers that he was one of the nervous ones, at first, but is feeling more optimistic now.

"I think we're making a lot of progress," he said. "I think our chief and his command staff along with other IPCO chiefs of police are fighting the right fight. And it ultimately boils down to the safety and security of our people that we protect."