Wikwemikong Tribal Police reduce charges against youth, focus on drug dealers, violent offenders in 2025
CBC
Wikwemikong Tribal Police Servce (WTPS) said a drop in the number of charges against teens last year, particularly boys, is an encouraging sign that early intervention programs are working.
Chief Ron Gignac said there were 42 charges laid last year against young people, down from 61 the year before.
Teens make up a small proportion of the total number of charges which rose to 6,688, according to statistics from the WTPS.
The focus of police, said Gignac, has been shifting to violent offenders, drug dealers and repeat offenders, as the number of overall people charged rose 40 per cent last year.
He’s proud that WTPS is leading the way in certain initiatives, including working interactively with the community to get young people involved in reporting tips.
“We were the first First Nation service in Canada to incorporate an online reporting system which allows for a different generation and demographic to start reporting tips and crimes,” he said.
Gignac said the service also started sending officers into schools in 2025.
Constable Adil Manek is one of those officers.
He has a background in working with young offenders as a correctional officer and said the listening skills and insight gained from that job are helping him in this one.
Manek said he has a role as an educator, not just about laws, but as someone who can help prevent issues from escalating into criminality.
He said he was recently told that bullying was becoming an issue in his school, so he put together a presentation.
“My presentation was not only about criminal charges but it was more of a detailed explanation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act and what is cyber bullying, what is bullying, what are the effects of bullying,” he said. “I believe as a result of that, we're educating the youth to prevent any sorts of online bullying.”
He’s working on building a trusting relationship with students so they come to him to share the positive things in their lives, and not just when they have a problem.
WTPS Chief Gignac said another strategy to reduce the number of charges against youth is to provide options to achieving justice that don’t necessarily involve the courts.
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Wikwemikong Tribal Police Servce (WTPS) said a drop in the number of charges against teens last year, particularly boys, is an encouraging sign that early intervention programs are working.
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