Indigenous leaders call for equal and equitable community safety – Anishinabek News

January 7, 2025

NETMIZAAGGAMIG NISHNAABEG — Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg Chief Louis Kwissiwa and other leaders recently called for the federal government to take action on community safety after Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg initially declared a state of emergency on Nov. 19.

“We need Canada to negotiate honourably and provide our communities with policing equal and equitable to what non-First Nations peoples enjoy today,” Chief Kwissiwa says. “We will not allow our community of Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg Unsurrendered to suffer because of Canada’s neglectful treatment. We can no longer afford to wait while lives are lost and our community lives in fear.”

Chief Kwissiwa gathered with other First Nation leaders and police service representatives on Dec. 5, 2024, in Ottawa to provide an update on the human rights complaint by the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario (IPCO), which was launched in March 2023. The human rights complaint challenges decades of chronic underfunding of First Nations community safety under the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program. The upcoming three-week Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing is scheduled for Jan. 6-24, 2025.

Read More: https://anishinabeknews.ca/2025/01/07/indigenous-leaders-call-for-equal-and-equitable-community-safety/