Treaty #3 chiefs meet to decide police service's fate

Chiefs of Treaty #3 are meeting July 23 to decide the fate of the Treaty Three Police Service.
The meeting of the chiefs in was called to open up dialogue on options for the embattled police service.
The meeting comes after supporters and police officers from Treaty 3 police came forward with a signed petition to not shut down the police service that serves 29 Treaty #3 communities.
The Police Services Board has maintained that is does not want to shut down the force.
“It is not nor ever will be the desire of the board of directors, executive or our member-representative communities to close our police service,” it stated in a press release.
But the issue has been forced by the union representing Treaty Three police officers. The union recently won an arbitration hearing that ruled Treaty #3 police officers should be paid the same rate as Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers.
The Police Services Board argues that its limited federal funding prevents it from meeting the arbitrator’s wage ruling.
The service is funded for about 52 per cent of their budget federally, where the other 48 per cent is to be brought forward provincially.
OPP officers are funded and paid by rank, whereas the Treaty Three Police pays all officers the salary of a constable, with no differentiation in salary for rank.
Sharon DeSousa, Public Services Alliance of Canada representative for the Treaty Three Police Service officers union said the different pay for each organization was discriminatory.
“Right now we want to make sure that First Nations policing continues and that the police service that’s being used is culturally appropriate,” she told CBC.