First Nation leaders renew calls for policing following Sask. stabbing inquest

Following recommendations from the James Smith Cree Nation inquest, First Nation leadership is renewing calls for its own police force.

“Our hearts are still heavy,” said Chief Wally Burns of James Smith Cree Nation.

As the community continues to heal, chiefs and First Nation leaders advocate to increase safety.

“I really want to look at how we can move forward, especially with self-administered policing,” Burns said.

Self-administered policing is one of the 29 recommendations from the jury and coroner at the inquest into one of Canada’s most brutal mass killings.

The inquest heard RCMP travelled 178km/h, but it still took 20 minutes to respond.

“We need a better response time for our communities,” said Chelsey Stonestand, a family spokesperson.

“You call within a city you get a response within two minutes. You call within a First Nation you get 20 minutes.”

Newly elected Assembly of First Nations chief Cindy Woodhouse believes the tragedy could have been avoided if the community had its own police force at the time.

“This is showing us that we need to do better in this country. We cannot leave these communities vulnerable,” she said.

Woodhouse said she’s asking for $3.6 billion in the next federal budget for policing and infrastructure.

Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, commanding office of the Saskatchewan RCMP said creating a new police force is a lengthy process.

“Policing is a very complicated business…you don’t create a police force overnight,” she said.

She said in the meantime the RCMP has created an Indigenous recruiting unit and an all-Indigenous troop will start training in the spring.

Blackmore said the Mounties are committed to looking at the recommendations, but more funding is needed to prevent similar tragedies.

“In order to do better we need two things; one is appropriate funding and human resources,” she said.

Meanwhile, Chief Woodhouse said she plans to bring the recommendations to the Prime Minister.