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Nunavik to get new police stations $1.25-million windfall for upgrades, new officers

JANE GEORGE

The Kativik Regional Police Force is a big winner in the new deal between Quebec and Nunavik.

"For us, it’s very good news," said KRPF police chief Brian Jones.

According to the agreement signed this week in Tasiujaq, the province has agreed to give the KRPF $1.25 million.

The amount represents about half the cost of improving police services and constructing new police stations in Nunavik.

This summer, the condemned police stations in Puvirnituq and Akulivik, closed last year by Quebec safety board, will be replaced.

By the end of April, the residents of Tasiujaq, Aupaluk, Ivujivik and Akulivik — communities that have only one resident cop — will get a second officer.

Two more officers will be hired to work on special files for the KRPF.

The deal puts an end to the Kativik Regional Government’s threat that it might stop supplying police services to the region because of its lack of resources and manpower.

It would have obliged the Quebec provincial police, the Sûreté du Québec, to take over policing in all Nunavik communities.

Negotations between Quebec, the federal government and the KRG on a new five-year funding plan for the KRPF aren’t due to start up until June.

So the money promised by Quebec will tide over the KRPF until the federal government kicks in its share of the improvements or a new funding agreement takes effect in 2003.

"Finally, someone is listening to us," Jones said.

Jones is also pleased because Quebec’s department of public security has also agreed to allow the KRPF to hire non-Inuit police for one-year renewable periods.

Previously, contracts given to officers who weren’t beneficiaries of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement were limited to four-month periods.

Jones said renewable one-year contracts would bring more stability to the force and better service to the public — something community leaders in Nunavik have asked for in the past.

The KRPF still won’t offer permanent contacts to non-natives, however, because it is supposed to be an aboriginal police force.

In communities slated to receive a second cop, non-natives will be paired with Inuit.

Jones said the presence of more police in smaller communities will mean the KRPF can devote more time and energy to crime prevention work.

In the next five-year agreement for the KRPF, Jones wants to see the number of police increase to 54 from 42.

He said a recent joint operation by the KRPF and SQ that nabbed drugs and alcohol before they entered Nunavik helped boost the region’s argument for more resources.

Delegates at the annual general meeting of Makivik Corporation in Tasiujaq were pleased to learn their regional police force would receive more support, but some said perhaps the money would be better spent on suicide prevention or more housing.

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