Mental health review of Indigenous police paints grim picture, calls for more federal and provincial funding

A new study shows underfunding of Indigenous police forces in Ontario is hurting the mental health of officers who patrol reserves and says more money from the federal and provincial governments is the cure. 

The mental health review commissioned by the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario found that the "internal culture" of the nine First Nations police forces does "not support the mental health of members."

The report's findings include:

• First Nations officers responded to a ratio of 90,228 calls for service per 100,000 population, compared to 38,371 for municipal police and 37,689 for Ontario Provincial Police
• Those calls are much more likely to be serious situations in First Nations. Under the violent crime severity index, three times more severe for Anishinabek Police than North Bay Police and on Manitoulin Island, calls for UCCM Police are three times more serious than those for OPP in Little Current.
• 10 per cent of Ontario's Indigenous police officers are off at any given time on mental health leave, which last an average of 11 months.
• In 2019-2020, Anishinabek Police officers lost 1,336 days to illness, 997 of them for mental health.
• 76 per cent of officers survey noted that their workload increased when a colleague took a mental health leave.

The review made 27 recommendations, most of them coming down to the need for more funding from the provincial and federal governments.

Roland Morrison, the acting president of the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario and the chief of Nishnawbe-Aski Police, says the purpose of this study was to "leverage" more money from Queen's Park and Ottawa.

"It says a lot. It does say that we're underfunded," said Morrison.

"It's hard for us to bash the funders. They would love to give us more. We know they're also restricted. They can't just write us a blank cheque."

Despite being well aware of the situation faced by his officers patrolling dozens of remote First Nations across northern Ontario, Morrison says he was surprised by some of the report's findings.

He was interested to see Indigenous officers say it's often more stressful when they are working in their home communities, especially dealing with violent crimes on a daily basis. 

"The violence that is occurring in First Nations communities and having to work in that environment is very impactful," said Morrison.

Indigenous police forces have been lobbying for years for more stable funding and a re-working of the formula that sees the federal government cover 52 per cent of costs and the provinces pay 48 per cent, but Morrison says this mental health crisis now takes priority. 

"It doesn't matter where it comes from or who is contributing what, let's just get the help and let's get it to our people," he said.

Chantal Larocque, an Anishinabek Police officer in the northeast and the secretary of the Public Service Alliance of Canada union local representing officers across the province, is hoping this report will finally bring change.

"I just hope it's not another Indigenous study that sits on the shelf in a politician's office and nothing is done," she said.

"Because this is at the cost of our members, their well-being and their families."

Larocque says Indigenous officers "all recognize either ourselves or people in that report" especially how chronic under-staffing erodes the mental health of First Nations police.

"In 2022, we are still working alone, which shouldn't be happening anywhere in policing," she said.

Larocque also agrees with the report that benefits and pensions for Indigenous police are far behind what's available to municipal and provincial officers.

She says she relies on her husband's health benefits and sees many Indigenous police officers working into their 60s because they can't afford to retire.

The review actually found that a majority of Indigenous police change careers before they make it to retirement, often seeking better pay and benefits. 

"The union and employers will disagree on some things," Larocque said.

"But everyone agrees the funding formula is horrible and change needs to happen."

The CBC asked the federal government to respond to the findings of the mental health review and has yet to receive a reply.

Ontario's Ministry of the Solicitor General provided a statement pointing out that Indigenous police forces have access to $267 million in community safety and policing grants and it "looks forward to participating, along with Indigenous communities, in discussions on how these investments can support Ontario's existing commitments and projects for sustainable, accountable, equitable, and culturally responsive policing, including those related to infrastructure needs and mental health supports for officers."

"We remain committed to working with the federal government and Indigenous policing services to ensure that First Nation police officers have the support they need to effectively deliver community safety while maintaining their own health and emotional well-being."

The statement also notes that "First Nations police services are currently participating in a ministry pilot project to provide first responders with access to a peer support application called PeerConnect."

It does not mention the $12 million the province recently committed to hire 20 mental health support staff for Ontario Provincial Police, which is partly what inspired the Indigenous police to commission its own mental health review.