No funding deal yet with Ottawa, but Quebec supports Nunavik police

If the KRPF gets more money in its new funding deal with Ottawa and Quebec, some of that will go towards new trucks, similar to the truck seen here in front of the Puvirnituq police station. (FILE PHOTO)

In Nunavik, it’s business as usual at the Kativik Regional Police Force.

That’s despite turmoil and uncertainty among some First Nations police forces in Quebec.

Last week, 26 First Nations police forces in Quebec were left without money and a funding deal after provincial and federal negotiators failed to meet an April 1 deadline to renew the $300-million, five-year First Nations Policing Program.

This meant 18 tripartite agreements governing the police services in 26 communities were left up in the air. As a result, officers from the Sûreté du Québec provincial police force went into some First Nations communities March 31 to replace aboriginal cops.

However, for Nunavik, as well as the Cree and Innu territories of northern Quebec, the lack of a deal between Quebec and Ottawa didn’t impact the operations of their regional police forces.

Those forces are entrenched in law, not just through funding arrangements, said Richard Coleman, aboriginal affairs coordinator at Quebec’s public security department.

While Quebec has not yet reached agreement on how much money the federal government will give the KRPF, there’s no chance of the force being disbanded for that or other reasons, Coleman said.

“We’re 100-per cent supportive of the KRPF,” he said.

Coleman acknowledged that the KRPF has big needs which will cost a lot or money to meet — at least $10 million a year from Ottawa which splits the KRPF budget 48-52 with Quebec.

But he said in an April 4 interview that he was hopeful Quebec would “iron out a deal with the feds as quickly as possible.”

Coleman said in 2013-14 that the KRPF is likely to target firearms safety and security in the lead-up to Quebec’s establishment of a firearms registry.

In February, KRPF police chief Aileen MacKinnon said if the new funding deal for the force provides more than the current $18 million, that money will go for police trucks and more staff including an Inuit liaison officer.

A 911-dispatch service, featuring Inuttitut speakers, possibly located in southern Quebec, could provide Inuttitut service to callers, she said.

All that hinges of the success of the negotiations for the renewal of funding for the KRPF, which officially ended March 31.

The KRPF has been looking for more than a one-year renewal of its funding agreement.

Until such a deal is hammered out, the KRPF’s operating expenses are still being picked up by the Kativik Regional Government, which oversees the KRPF.