TORONTO - The lack of government funding for aboriginal policing is forcing some reserves to rent out storage lockers to store evidence and other files.
John Syrette, chief of the Anishinabek police service, says one of his police detachments is squeezed into an old fire hall that doesn't have adequate storage.
He says the police service has to use rented storage facilities in place of evidence lockers.
Syrette says the police service isn't getting the government funding for renovations or new facilities so they are forced to ask the local band office to borrow money from a bank on their behalf.
Grand Council Chief John Beaucage, with the Union of Ontario Indians, says the shortage of police officers is also a big problem.
He says it can take police up to two hours to respond to an emergency call because there are so few of them.
"We don't have enough resources to have 24-hour policing in most of our communities,'' Beaucage said. "I would dearly love to have the people there most of the time.''
Although aboriginal leaders say they've been raising this issue with the Liberals for years, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday he didn't know anything about it. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant was not immediately available for comment.
New Democrat Gilles Bisson said the province is supposed to share the cost of policing with the federal government and it's time the Liberals stepped up to the plate.
Instead, he said the contentious issue of aboriginal policing has become a victim of "political buck-passing'' with both levels of government pointing the finger at each other.
"The Liberals say they want a new relationship with First Nations,'' Bisson said. "If you want a new relationship, lead.''
The Nishnawbe Aski Nation was forced to close a main police detachment recently because it doesn't have running water, uses outdated locks and doesn't have modern heating. Only one of the reserve's 35 police detachments meets minimum building standards.
