New partnership will see Thunder Bay, Nishnawbe Aski police share information, resources

A new partnership agreement will allow Thunder Bay and Nishnawbe Aski police to better share resources and information.

The two services officially signed the partnership agreement on Tuesday, during a media event held at Thunder Bay police headquarters involving Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) Chief Roland Morrison and Thunder Bay Police Chief Darcy Fleury. 

"It's important that within policing that we establish partnerships that benefit our communities and benefit our people,"  Morrison said during the event. "It's important that we also provide safe communities."

"This partnership will help accomplish that," he said. "By working together collaboratively, we can tackle the issues that are facing our communities."

"What happens here in Thunder Bay do impact our NAN [Nishnawbe Aski Nation] communities and the communities that we police, and it's important that we have the ability to tackle these issues and tackle them together."

The agreement will allow the services to work together on mutually-beneficial projects, and share resources and information. Morrison said the two services have been doing that to a certain extent already, and Tuesday's signing was a formalization of that partnership.

Also covered by the agreement, a copy of which was provided by Thunder Bay police, is "designing a policing model that allows the sharing of operational and administrative resources between the two agencies," and "a mutual recognition of each individual party's unique skill sets and strengths."

The agreement also calls on the two organizations to share experiences and expertise to foster and encourage growth and reconciliation, and to work toward an atmosphere of inclusion and education.

Fleury, Thunder Bay's police chief, said officer exchanges are possible under the agreement, as well.

"It's a bit of an opportunity for us to share experiences where some of our members perhaps might go to some of their communities, some of their members come on our community and just experience the different style of policing," Fleury said. "So that's an opportunity to do that."

Morrison said NAPS — which serves 34 First Nation communities in NAN territory, across Ontario — had previously signed similar agreements with York, Halton, and Peel police, that saw officers from those services work in northeastern Ontario NAPS communities earlier this year.

"It's just putting them into a variety of communities where they're going to gain a number of experiences in terms of cultural experience, the types of calls for service and a lot of community outreach," Morrison said. "It's that exposure to what our demand communities look like. It's important that that people have that understanding of where Indigenous people come from. So it's important that that outreach occur, you know.

"The feedback was from those three services was phenomenal," he said. "They really, really enjoyed having that experience."