Paul McLeod (Metro Halifax) – RCMP will no longer handle policing at the Wagmatcook First Nation reserve in Cape Breton, but band council still hasn’t gotten the public inquiry they’ve been seeking into the death of John Simon.
Nine band representatives travelled to Halifax yesterday to meet with Justice Minister Ross Landry and struck a deal to have Cape Breton Regional Police take over policing duties.
“There’s no trust in the community right now with the RCMP,” said band chief of operations Brian Arbuthnot after the meeting.
“Council is concerned about the safety of RCMP officers in the community and it was felt because we had the option of going to CBRM police that it was a better option.”
The move is fallout from the Dec. 3, 2008 shooting of Simon, 44, by an RCMP officer.
An internal report absolved the officer of wrongdoing.
Band members have been highly critical of the report, believing there may be a conflict of interest, and have demanded a public inquiry. The province has said that’s premature until the band has had a chance to read the report.
But Wagmatcook is waiting on a freedom of information request to the federal government to get their hands on it. Even then, Arbuthnot doubts it will be enough.
“We’re not optimistic we’re going to be getting a complete report. We’re going to be getting a sanitized, edited version. Really, to that end we’re not going to have the full story,” he said.
Freedom of information requests have been known to take months, but Landry said the province will be lobbying the federal government to release it as soon as possible.
Cape Breton Regional Police will take over for the RCMP for at least three years, starting in April. It will cost the province and feds $623,000 per year jointly, up from $477,000. The increase is due to a staff increase of four person-years instead of three.
I guess what seems a bit silly here is if you look at a map of Cape Breton Island, the nearest CBRP looks to be over an hour away. I wonder if nearby unincorporated Baddeck wanted CBRP how quickly the province would respond. They would probably get laughed at. If you think about it, it makes as much sense as Squamish BC getting the Vancouver police.
Say for example the African Community of North Preston or Cherry Brook in the Halifax area wanted the Regional Police over the RCMP, I could see a sense of logic as they ARE already part of the municipality. Wagmatcook isn’t.
I wonder if the band considered that if there is a major incident again (which caused this problem in the first place) and the CBRP needs backup, it is going to be from the local RCMP detachment and not an hour away from Sydney…. Any way you slice it, the RCMP won’t completely be going away.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Bit of a rhetorical question? They are natives and the government with our tax dollars pays for everything.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Reserve has great expectations
Bill Spurr, Halifax, NS. (Chronicle Herald)
January 24, 2010
The director of operations for the Wagmatcook band council expects policing on the reserve to be better when Cape Breton Regional Police take over from the RCMP.
“We think there’s more competence under the CBRM proposal because there will be two more officers,” said Brian Arbuthnot on Saturday. “From a business perspective, we’ll look at it again in three years, but we think it’ll be a positive move for the community.”
Relations between Wagmatcook and the Mounties have been strained since an RCMP officer shot John Simon inside his Wagmatcook home in December 2008. Mr. Simon was reportedly suicidal and drunk when he was killed, but an investigation carried out by Halifax Regional Police concluded the officer involved acted in self defence and charges weren’t laid.
Earlier this month, the band council voted to end its contract with the RCMP and replace them with the Cape Breton regional force.
On Friday, someone at the Baddeck RCMP detachment sent a fax to the media, claiming Wagmatcook’s decision will end up costing taxpayers money.
“That’s not true. I’m not sure where they got their numbers from. The fact is that the real total is $623,001 for the regional police service, Mr. Arbuthnot said.
“The way it works is that there are operational costs and capital costs. The band council is throwing in the (office) space, heat, light (and) fixed costs, like the insurance on the building. All the Mounties pay for is the telephone.
“They’re already benefitting from that arrangement right now. The numbers that are more reflective of what the true operational cost is (the) $477,000 for three members (Mounties), plus the $80,000 to $100,000 in costs that the band is incurring.”
The fax also said Cape Breton’s regional radio service doesn’t work in Victoria County, but Mr. Arbuthnot said that won’t be a problem.
“They’re making arrangements right now to put in a repeater in the community and we have confirmation from the federal government that they’ll take care of that,” he said, adding that the band will issue a news release on the policing issue on Monday.
The fax, which was on RCMP letterhead but unsigned, is not an official document.
“It’s not an RCMP authorized fax,” said Sgt. Brigdit Leger, the provincial spokeswoman for the RCMP.
“We’re doing an internal inquiry to find out the details surrounding the fax and that is ongoing. None of the information in it has been checked for accuracy.”
The switchover at Wagmatcook from the RCMP to regional police is scheduled to take place in April.
Why is the province and the feds paying for this switch and not the band? Beggars can’t be choosers.
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