Prince Albert Grand Council has been conducting community engagement sessions in their communities to hear members opinions on Indigenous-led policing.
The federal and provincial governments provided PAGC with $1.4 million in funding to conduct a feasibility study focusing on existing policing services in the communities and current and future needs.
Some of the issues members have with the current policing services include slow response times, a lack of visibility in communities, and a lack of communication.
‘There is an opportunity where, as a community, we can improve our own police services with our own Indigenous police services. It’s kind of like planting a seed and watching it grow; that’s where we’re at,” explained David Sanderson, PAGC’s public safety implementation advisor.
The request for the study was originally proposed in 2017. This summer, Sanderson and his team began traveling to the 28 communities to conduct engagement sessions.
Right now, there are under 40 self-administered First Nations or Inuit police forces in Canada. Sanderson stated that the study also involves looking into those police forces and what worked for them.
“Those established police forces right now took a long time to get to where they’re at, so we’re kind of following their lead in community engagement, and this study is a step toward that, and most of those established police forces have done that, so we’re just catching up to them,” said Sanderson.
The next community engagement session will be held in Grandmother’s Bay on August 29. A link to more information about the study and the engagement session schedule can be found below.
The feasibility study is set to wrap up in the fall or summer of 2026.