Extra funds secured through new agreement

The Kahnawake Peacekeepers are expected to receive nearly $13 million in additional funding over the next five years, following negotiations with Quebec and Canada, police chief Dwayne Zacharie shared this week.

The total amount comes out to just over $12.8 million, he said. That additional funding will be handed over progressively between now and 2029, the year Kahnawake’s policing agreement is set to expire.

“It’s an increase year over year of approximately $2 million,” he said, meaning the police service will now have a roughly $9.1 million budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, up from about $6.4 million that had initially been committed. “It is a significant jump. We've been lobbying for this.”

The modified policing agreement should come into effect as of April 1, the start of the next fiscal year, Zacharie said.

Roughly $2 million out of the total will also be backdated to apply for this current fiscal year, which ends this month, he said, which comes out to an increase of $6.2 million to roughly $8.2 million. The police service is now in the process of hiring nine new officers thanks to the extra dollars.

Quebec’s public security ministry said it couldn’t comment on the modified policing agreement as it’s yet to be finalized. So far, only an agreement in principle has been reached, a spokesperson shared. Canada also declined to comment on it.

The roughly $12.8 million is in addition to funds already previously committed by both Quebec and Canada through the policing agreement. The federal government contributes 52 percent of the funding each year, with Quebec footing the remainder.

It spans from 2019-2029, totalling a commitment of about $61 million over the entirety of the 10-year period, Zacharie said. The new agreement will bring that amount up to nearly $74 million. 

The next step he wants is for Canada to recognize First Nation and Inuit policing as essential, and to provide more funding to those police services to reflect that status. 

“I know Public Safety Canada is working on revamping the First Nation and Inuit policing program,” Zacharie said. “These extra dollars are being earmarked as stabilization monies in the interim while the program gets revamped.”

The Peacekeepers are among 22 First Nation and Inuit police forces in the province that have launched a human rights complaint alleging their underfunding constitutes discrimination. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has already agreed to hear the case.  

“All of the work that we’ve done has opened the eyes of Public Safety Canada and the government to say, ‘Hey, we are underfunding them. We do need to make adjustments. We do need to make changes.’”

Last November, a Supreme Court ruling also sided with a judgment out the Quebec Court of Appeal ruling both Canada and Quebec owed the community of Mashteuiatsh $1.6 million to make up for years of underfunding its police service. Canada has agreed to pay its part. Quebec, meanwhile, asked that the court overturn the ruling.

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