The House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs met on October 27, 2025, to study indigenous policing. The committee heard from Chief Leroy Denny of Eskasoni First Nation, Chief Christopher George of Eel River Bar First Nation, and Chief Keith Blake, Chief of Police of the Tsuut’ina Nation Police Service.
Chief Leroy Denny testified that Eskasoni, the largest Mi'kmaq community in Atlantic Canada with nearly 5,000 people, is policed by the RCMP under a community tripartite agreement the council has never signed because the service is inadequate. He said the community has lost most of its Mi'kmaq-speaking officers and now has only two who are about to retire, which harms community policing and de-escalation. He recommended a hybrid policing model involving tribal police, peace officers, or special constables, with long-term predictable funding and a focus on recruiting and retaining indigenous officers who can choose to serve in their own communities. He noted that the RCMP depot in Regina does not provide sufficient training on indigenous issues, and that the community pays out of its own revenue for a drug unit and prevention officer because federal funding is lacking.
Chief Christopher George testified that his community of nearly 900 people on the north shore of New Brunswick faces a drug trafficking crisis, with perpetrators from outside using the reserve as a haven because his administration lacks the institutional capacity to enforce bylaws or take police action. He said the RCMP is not always able to provide the needed support, and provincial agencies lack jurisdiction on reserve lands. He called for fair and equitable resource revenue-sharing to give communities the financial resources to address structural poverty and colonialism, and he asked the committee to read the Yellowhead Institute's "Land Back" and "Cash Back" papers. He noted that the RCMP has been hesitant to enforce band council resolutions and eviction notices, which sends a message that the reserve is a grey area for criminal elements.
Chief Keith Blake testified that the 36 independent indigenous police services across Canada are chronically underfunded with year-to-year funding, leading to high attrition—his service lost one-third of its frontline officers to the Calgary Police Service due to disparities in pay, benefits, and pensions. He said that despite having the highest crime severity index, indigenous police services see far fewer use-of-force incidents and lethal encounters than mainstream policing, which he attributed to community relationships and de-escalation skills. He recommended that indigenous policing be designated an essential service with long-term, stable, and predictable funding, clear federal-provincial cost-sharing frameworks, and a mechanism for arbitration. He expressed disappointment that little has changed since his last appearance before the committee over four years ago, and noted that the program has not been updated since 1996.
During the meeting, the committee debated and adopted a motion to invite the Auditor General and the Minister of Indigenous Services to testify about the Auditor General's 2025 report on programs for first nations, with the meeting to take place no later than November 3, 2025, and to be televised.
AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.