After 15 years, talks with Quebec have gone nowhere.
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Members of the Lengthy Level First Nation residing in Winneway, 80 kilometres south of Rouyn-Noranda in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, don’t have a neighborhood police division greater than a decade after negotiations started with the Quebec authorities, a scenario Chief Steeve Mathias decried Monday.
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The group of about 400 inhabitants has been policed by the Sûreté du Québec since 2006, when the native police drive was abolished due to a scarcity of funding.
“It may take two hours” earlier than a police automobile can attain the group, Mathias stated in an interview.
He pressured that he was not questioning the SQ’s competency, however for him it’s “a query of availability.”
The SQ detachment in Ville-Marie, which serves the area, is greater than an hour away by automobile. It “doesn’t have sufficient personnel, simply two patrol automobiles and an enormous territory to cowl,” Mathias stated.
The chief stated he needs “fixed protection of the group” to guard members’ lives.
He cites an incident two weeks in the past the place “a younger man in disaster” fired a gun “proper in entrance of the group college” round 7 p.m. With no police, civilians needed to take away youngsters from the neighbourhood, stop folks from utilizing the road and confront the person to persuade him to surrender his weapon. “These individuals are not skilled” and have been afraid for his or her security, Mathias stated. Luckily, the scenario was resolved with out violence earlier than the SQ’s arrival.
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Apart from disaster administration, a police drive can be wanted to stop crime, Mathias stated.
“Simply being current locally is already an act of prevention.”
Mathias stated he proposed a number of options to the Quebec authorities, in useless.
“They don’t inform us it’s not good or it’s not practical,” he stated, “however our letters go unanswered.”
Throughout a videoconference on March 17 with Premier François Legault, he stated, “the premier dedicated that if the scenario wasn’t resolved inside two months, he would personally intervene.”
Nearly 4 months later, there was no progress.
“We’re asking ourselves severe questions in regards to the political will of the federal government,” Mathias stated.
The premier’s workplace didn’t reply to questions from Presse Canadienne, nor was it attainable to achieve the workplace of Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafrenière.
Mathias stated even with enough funding, placing collectively a police station may take time. In the meantime, the Lengthy Level First Nation proposes that “different neighbouring Anishinaabe communities” additionally cowl Winneway. The Kebaowek First Nation, which is a two-hour drive from Winneway, has stated it’s open to collaboration, however would wish “needed sources” from the federal government.
This report was produced with the monetary help of the Fb and Canadian Press Information Fellowship.
