22 Indigenous police forces in Quebec file human rights complaint accusing Ottawa of underfunding them

Twenty-two Indigenous police forces in Quebec have filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission accusing Public Safety Canada of discrimination over a lack of resources.

In Kahnawake, a Mohawk territory on Montreal's South Shore, at any given time, there are around 100,000 people on the land but on Monday, there were just four peacekeepers on duty.

"We're the only recognized law enforcement authority here for our territory and we take that job seriously and the way we're financed, the way we are resourced, the policing agreement doesn't meet our needs any longer," said Dwayne Zacharie, chief of the Kahnawake Peacekeepers.

Funding for Indigenous policing comes from the federal government. For years, police chiefs like Zacharie say they've been forced to do more with less, including paying their officers below industry standard.

"If we use Kahnawake here, compared to Chateauguay, which is the next over community, there could be a wage parity of at least 15, 20, 25, 30 per cent and that's across the province," said Shawn Dulude, the president of the Quebec Association of First Nation and Inuit Police Directors (QAFNIPD).

The 22 Quebec Indigenous police forces that filed the human rights complaint say, on top of pay inequality, their departments lack critical infrastructure to keep them safe.

"Sometimes, officers are working with bulletproof vests that are five years expired, 10 years expired. It doesn't make sense," said Dulude.

"That would never be accepted by the provincial police, the Montreal police or any other police department … there would be a walk-out or a strike or something would happen. Well, why do we have to work in those conditions?"

In the community of Kitigan Zibi, about two hours north of Ottawa, under-funding means the department often only has one officer on duty overnight.

"It's very difficult for the police officer. They have to rely on the backup of the Sûreté du Québec, who are not alway there in an instant," said Paul McDougall, the chief of the Kitigan Zibi Police.

Dulude said the result is First Nations communities are less safe.

"The human being always takes the path of least resistance as a rule. So criminals don't divert from that," he said.

Zacharie says that should concern the wider Montreal region, not just the people of Kahnawake.

"I think what people do is they look at First Nations policing with a benign neglect, you know, like it's second class, it's not as good as other policing services when that's not true," Zacharie said.

"What is true is there are gaps and we are underfunded."

The police departments are asking the human rights commission to put an end to what they see as discriminatory funding policies and to force the federal government to spend more on their services.