Manitoba First Nations Police Service takes over for RCMP in Brokenhead Ojibway Nation

Posted on October 4, 2024 by Peggy

The Manitoba First Nations Police Service has begun patrolling in a 10th First Nation — a historic moment for Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, the community’s chief says.

People in the community, located 66 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, along with council members, MFNPS officers and provincial and federal representatives celebrated the transferring of police services in a ceremony in the First Nation on Friday morning.

Brokenhead Chief Gordon Bluesky said it’s comforting that police have a local presence in the community so people like elders and youth feel safe and can access timely emergency services.

“I think it’s just important that whenever you get a call coming into the service centre here in Brokenhead, now the response time can be under a minute, under a couple minutes versus our previous relationship with the RCMP which would have to travel in from another jurisdiction,” he said.

“So having our own local detachment here in the community, I will say for sure that our community sleeps better at night now.”

An Indigenous man wearing a traditional headdress. — Brokenhead Ojibway Nation Chief Gordon Bluesky says it’s a historic moment for his community now that the Manitoba First Nations Police Service has started patrolling the First Nation, northeast of Winnipeg, on Friday. (Travis Golby/CBC)

MFNPS officers started making wellness checks on elders and stopping to introduce themselves to people in the community beginning Tuesday, emphasizing the importance of building trust and developing positive relationships, Bluesky said.

Brokenhead Ojibway Nation was previously policed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which played a historic role in removing Indigenous children from their homes in First Nations and taking them to residential schools across Canada.

Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and Gambler First Nation, located in southwestern Manitoba, are two of the most recent First Nations in the province to switch police services.

Gambler First Nation announced MFNPS would have a detachment in the community on Tuesday.

MFNPS was first established in 1974 as the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council Police Department and is the oldest First Nations police service in Canada, according to its website.

A man in a police uniform stands in front of a table and a podium. — Chief of Police Doug Palson of the Manitoba First Nations Police Service says police operations in Brokenhead Ojibway Nation will have a community-centered approach during the transfer of services ceremony on Friday. (Travis Golby/CBC)

“It’s not uncommon that some communities look for different policing services that may suit their community needs better,” MFNPS Chief Doug Palson said at the ceremony.

“In this particular case, the leadership of Brokenhead in the community has decided to go with a more community-focused police service that’s representative of their community and culture,” Palson said.

The police chief said the service strives to be “as culturally connected” as possible in their delivery. He thinks more First Nations will join under their jurisdiction by next year.

The RCMP and other police services are stretched thin for resources year after year making it difficult to provide effective community-focused services, Palson said.

Seven police officers and civilian support staff are currently operating out of a temporary office, but are expected to have a state-of-the-art police detachment in the future, he said.

A grey portable building with the Manitoba First Nations Police Service sign outside. — Doug Palson, the chief of the Manitoba First Nations Police Service, says police officers are working out of a temporary office in Brokenhead Ojibway Nation until a new building is made in the community. (Travis Golby/CBC)

Local resident Hazel Kent, who grew up in Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, said she is fearful of the RCMP based on previous experiences she’s had, but she feels optimistic that transferring police responsibilities onto the MFNPS was the right move.

As a former social worker who started her career in 1982, Kent can’t imagine not having support from a police force to do her job.

“All of these steps are falling into place now,” she said.

“I practised social work here and I’ve seen a lot of trauma and the reasons why people do the things that they do that require police presence … but in the last 10 years maybe, it’s gotten very, very dangerous, you know, to go one-on-one to a home.”