KENORA — Treaty Three Police Service (T3PS) has persuaded one First Nation to stay on board while another community has switched to provincial police.
Grassy Narrows (Asubpeeschoseewagong) First Nation “has agreed to continue to work with T3PS to address the policing needs of its community and provide adequate and effective policing which ensures the public safety of its members,” the Treaty Three Police Services Board stated in a release issued Thursday.
On the same day, Wabaseemoong Independent Nations transitioned its policing from T3PS to Ontario Provincial Police.
Both First Nations gave T3PS notice in late July that they would find another police service for their communities in 100 days if dissatisfaction with service quality and reliability weren’t addressed.
Rudy Turtle, then chief of Grassy Narrows, told Newswatch many of his community’s concerns had to do with response times and “their presence in the community.”
“They’re hardly in the community,” he said.
The board governing Treaty Three Police said in Thursday’s release that the force is “actively working to address” the First Nations’ complaints.
Newswatch reached out to Grassy Narrows Chief Sherry Ackabee, who unseated Turtle as chief in an election last month, for comment but received no response other than confirmation that her First Nation is still being served by T3PS.
Chief and council of Wabaseemoong Independent Nations of One Man Lake, Swan Lake and Whitedog could not be reached for comment.
The provincial police’s Kenora detachment began providing policing services in Wabaseemoong at midnight on Nov. 7, with officers deployed out of a satellite detachment in the community northwest of Kenora.
Grassy Narrows, northeast of Kenora, is among nearly two dozen First Nations served by the Kenora-headquartered Treaty Three Police Service.
