Aamjiwnaang Chief appointed to the City of Sarnia Police Services Board
By Colin Graf
AAMJIWNAANG FIRST NATION— Aamjiwnaang Chief Joanne Rogers was recently appointed to the Police Services Board in the city of Sarnia, as the first serving chief to hold such a position in Ontario. Chief Rogers, a former Justice of the Peace in Sarnia, will help oversee the policies and personnel matters along with Sarnia’s mayor, councillors, and other provincial appointees.
Chief Rogers says she is pleased to join the police board as Aamjiwnaang has been trying to get a member on the board since the signing of a policing agreement with the city in the late 1980s. This is the first time the First Nation has been represented, although the community has had policing services from Sarnia for many decades.
“Since we have this policing agreement, we want them to get to know a little more about us and we’ll get to know a bit more about the police services,” she says. Chief Rogers hopes to help educate other board members and police about Aamjiwnaang, and build relationships for the future.
While she characterizes relations between the community and Sarnia police as good, she believes having closer ties can only make things better.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley says the appointment, which he and Chief Rogers first discussed last Fall, is a really positive step for both city and First Nation.
“It sends a clear message you can‘t just have the rhetoric of cooperation and reconciliation with First Nations, you actually have to do things,” he tells Anishinabek News.
The question of a police board appointment came up in a meeting between the two leaders held as a result of an agreement in 2016 to hold quarterly [discussions] on matters of mutual concern and interest for Sarnia and Aamjiwnaang, Bradley says.
“I told him we have been trying for years to get someone on the board,” Chief Rogers recalls.
Since there wasn’t much time to submit nominations to the province for the vacant position, Chief Rogers says Chief and Council didn’t have time to ask members for names of people who might like to serve.
“We just put my name on the papers and sent them in. Hopefully this will open the door for other members to sit on that board [in the future],” she explains.
Chief Rogers’ 21 years as a Justice of the Peace in Sarnia will definitely be an asset for the police board, says Bradley, current police board chair. Not only does her understanding of the law help, but she also has great knowledge of individuals on the force, he adds.
Her familiarity with the police was one reason Chief Rogers was consulted this year on the selection of a new police chief and deputy for Sarnia, Bradley says.
Training new members of the police board often takes time to help them understand the role, but Chief Rogers already understands there is a clear separation between the daily operations of the police and the oversight job of the civilian board, he says.
The policing contract for Aamjiwnaang is being re-examined by both sides for updating, along with other agreements on water, sewage, and fire services to remove antiquated language, Bradley says. Having Chief Rogers on the police board will also help that process, he adds. Certain things are not provided for in the agreement such as by-law enforcement, according to Bradley, as Aamjiwnaang doesn’t want some Sarnia by-laws enforced on the community’s land.
Bradley also says Chief Rogers’ appointment opens the way for other communities across Ontario to look more closely at including First Nations’ participation on police boards, something that is being encouraged by the new Police Services Act, according to Brent Ross, spokesperson for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional services.
The new Act passed in March, requires municipalities to develop and implement a diversity plan to ensure board members appointed by councils are representative of the communities they serve. It also requires them to promote available board appointments to underrepresented groups, including First Nation, Inuit, and Métis communities. The minister has similar responsibilities for provincially appointed individuals, Ross says.
The new Act also gives First Nation, Inuit, and Métis communities the choice to establish their own police services board, enabling them to have greater input in the governance and direction of the police, and help ensure police services are culturally responsive and appropriate, he explains.