Senators private members bill would require RCMP to enforce First Nations bylaws

A Manitoba senator says she hopes her proposed private members’ bill will help make First Nations communities safer. “When I worked up north as a dentist, I could see the gradual decline in safety and security,” Conservative Sen. Mary Jane McCallum, who is a member of the Munsee-Delaware Nation in Ontario, said. “You know there was increasing violence, people were bootlegging, RCMP didn’t enforce that. There was more mental health issues. There was the fear even in your own home because the gangs were in there.” Bill S-223 was introduced in 2025 and has passed second reading in the Senate. It’s currently being studied by the Senate’s National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs committee. If enacted the bill would require the RCMP to enforce First Nations bylaws, something communities have long complained the Mounties don’t do. Michael Anderson is a policing and public safety advisor with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, a political organization that represents 26 First Nations in Manitoba. He said RCMP have a history of not enforcing First Nations bylaws in the province but things became worse after 2014 when legislative changes were made no longer requiring First Nations bylaws to have ministerial approval at the federal level in order be valid. Since the change, the RCMP has stated the force needs clearer direction from the federal government in order to enforce these bylaws but Anderson said this is incorrect. “An Indian Act bylaw is a federal regulation,” he said. “Under the interpretation act and statutory instruments act and regulation act it is a law of Canada. Section 18(a) of the RCMP act establishes a duty for the RCMP to enforce the laws of Canada. So, our position is that RCMP already have a statutory obligation to enforce the laws of Canada but they’re clearly not.” The RCMP another provincial police forces still enforce criminal code offences on reserve. McCallum’s bill still needs to pass third reading in the upper chamber and then three readings and study at committee in the House of Commons before becoming law. Read More:  Proposed bill would push RCMP to enforce First Nations laws  The Chiefs of Ontario is also taking both the federal and provincial governments to task in that province for failure to provide First Nations with equal access to justice and the rule of law after launching a lawsuit against the two levels of government in 2024. “The provincial government implemented the CPSA which is the Community Safety and Policing Act,” Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict said. “They had made revisions and more particularly these new revisions that were put in place that municipal and First Nation bylaws were exempt from enforcement and so this was very problematic for us.” The lawsuit continues to wind its way through the Ontario court system. Nevertheless, a member of the Wahta Mohawks in central Ontario was recently successful in getting the Ontario Provincial Police to enforce a First Nations trespassing bylaw on her land. Teresa Greasley said she thinks a combination of things worked in her favour including Bill S-223, the Chiefs of Ontario lawsuit and overall persistence but it still took six months from when she filed the complaint with police to actual enforcement. Greasley said there needs to be better communications between First Nations and the justice system so these bylaws can be enforced as quickly and efficiently as possible. “There has to be a system in place whereby First Nations create the bylaw, the bylaw is legally vetted so there’s due process and once that’s done and it has all the components that are required, then the courts have to be informed,” she said. “So there has to be a system with the OPP so they’re award of it, the judges are aware of it, the prosecutors are aware of it and then it just becomes a normal practice like any other bylaw.” Continue Reading