THUNDER BAY – An Indigenous person should be added to the city's police service board.
That's the request made by Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum during her Tuesday deputation to the Thunder Bay Police Services Board.
As a representative of 49 First Nations, Achneepineskum believes it’s important for Indigenous citizens to have a voice.
“We do have concerns about our relationship (with Thunder Bay Police Services) and we want to work on building those relationships,” Achneepineskum said.
“It’s very important for our citizens to have a good relationship with the Thunder Bay Police Services and other police services in Ontario.”
Achneepineskum added there have been recent situations in which Indigenous people have been mistreated either verbally or physically, so it’s important to address these circumstances and start working together.
During the police services board Achneepineskum told members about a task force on community safety Nishnawbe Aski Nation has developed to help build a stronger relationship with city partners to address homelessness, high crime rate and the vulnerability of both Indigenous people and other citizens of Thunder Bay.
She also shared her request for support in moving forward with appointing an Indigenous person to the police services board table as well as the importance of having an Indigenous person sitting on the board as a full member.
“It’s very important to have this vote and be recognized as a full member of the board and in order for us to fully implement our voice at the table we need to have a vote.”
The Thunder Bay Police Services Board voted unanimously to allow a Nishnawbe Aski Nation member to serve on the board.
“It’s very encouraging that both parties are willing to step up and move forward,” Achneepineskum said.
“They recognize that there is a lot of stresses on the relationship (between the Indigenous community and the police), they acknowledge that there’s a lot of problems and concerns and they are both willing to address the situation.”
Thunder Bay Police Services Board chair Jackie Dojack believes the reason why there isn’t Aboriginal representation has to do with how the board is put together.
“The three positions that are not council positions, they’re by application and then either the council or the province chooses from applications that have been made,” Dojack said.
“It may be that there have not been applications from Indigenous persons, I don’t know that, but that’s quite conceivable.”
Dojack said in the past there have been Indigenous people as police board members.
As a board they cannot take steps except to encourage the city or the province to consider an Indigenous person in the earliest possible appointment time.
Dojack said in the interim they could have a resource person from the Indigenous community as a person on the board.
“I think those are important steps forward for us in helping the relationship to foster and to work on a better relationship, a stronger relationship with the Indigenous community in Thunder Bay.”
