Indigenous and Northern Affairs

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs met to study indigenous policing and public safety, hearing from Andrew Hayes, Deputy Auditor General, and Jo Ann Schwartz, Principal, both from the Office of the Auditor General, who presented findings from their 2024 audit of the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program.

Andrew Hayes stated that the 2024 audit, like one conducted in 2014, found critical shortcomings in program management, including that Public Safety Canada did not work in partnership with Indigenous communities to provide equitable policing services and that the RCMP did not provide proactive, community-based policing. He noted that nearly $48 million in program funds went undisbursed in 2023-24, the department lacked an equitable funding distribution approach, and the RCMP could not fill all funded positions under community tripartite agreements, meaning communities did not receive the services they should have. Hayes recommended that Public Safety Canada work with First Nations, Inuit communities, provinces, territories, and the RCMP to update the program, which has not been revised since 1996, and to develop a more effective and culturally appropriate service delivery model.

Jo Ann Schwartz added that the RCMP had no national staffing approach to fill gaps in community tripartite agreements, which could have included specific attention to recruiting Indigenous officers, but no such strategy existed at the time of the audit. She supported Hayes’s emphasis on the need for better engagement and planning between Public Safety Canada and the RCMP.

The committee later debated a motion by Jaime Battiste to study the impacts of Indian Act membership codes, specifically subsections 6(1) and 6(2) and the non-stated paternity policy, with a view to possible amendments. Some members expressed concerns about the committee’s schedule, noting lost meeting time and a full legislative agenda, but the motion was accepted for future discussion. The committee also agreed to receive an updated witness list and work plan for the policing study, with the expectation that the Minister of Public Safety would appear at a later date.