Serving Canada's Aboriginal People

Overview

Serving Canada’s Aboriginal communities is one of the RCMP’s strategic priorities.

Since the earliest days of the Northwest Mounted Police in the 1870s, the RCMP has developed a unique and important relationship with Aboriginal people living in Canada. Today, the RCMP works closely with Aboriginal communities to deliver a policing service that is culturally competent.

A tradition of cooperation

As a long-standing law enforcement partner of Aboriginal communities, the RCMP continues to influence public policy, provide policing services in hundreds of communities across Canada, and works closely with Aboriginal groups to develop innovative policing approaches that meet their distinctive needs.

The RCMP’s National Aboriginal Policing Services (NAPS) is responsible for planning, developing and managing the organization’s strategies and initiatives for working with Aboriginal communities.

Programs

The National Aboriginal Policing Services Branch oversees a number of Aboriginal programs and initiatives, including:

• Aboriginal Youth Training Program
• White Stone - Youth suicide prevention program
• Commissioner’s National Aboriginal Advisory Committee
• Aboriginal Perceptions Training
• Inuit Perceptions Training
• Community Profiles - online reports about detachment activities in specific communities
• Annual Performance Plans, which address an offence or negative social issue that concerns the community

The two primary programs administered by NAPS are designed to build community capacity among Aboriginal youth.

The Aboriginal Youth Training Program provides Aboriginal youth with 17 weeks of summer employment. Candidates receive two weeks of training at the RCMP’s Training Academy in Regina after which they return to their home communities to provide 15 weeks of police support services. This program is managed in partnership with the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association.

White Stone is a national program that trains Aboriginal youth to be a resource for youth in their community. The program has two components:

• teaching young adults and community care givers about suicide prevention, and identifying those at risk
• giving them the knowledge and skills to talk to youth and others about suicide related issues, including presenting suicide prevention education sessions to youth in their home community.

National Aboriginal Policing Services also provides support on the First Nations Policing Policy to its partners in the Policing Agreements Section of Public Safety Canada.

Serving First Nations, Inuit and Métis groups

The RCMP’s work with Canada’s Aboriginal people includes all three groups: First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The RCMP maintains ongoing dialogue with the:

• Assembly of First Nations
• Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (Canada’s national Inuit organization)
• Métis National Council
• Native Women’s Association of Canada
• Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.

Seeking Aboriginal representation

To ensure that the RCMP’s workforce is representative of the communities it serves, a national recruiting strategy was developed. It includes a component focused on encouraging Aboriginal people to become police officers. This strategy also encourages Aboriginal candidates to consider civilian career opportunities in the RCMP.