Serving Canada's Aboriginal People

In the news...

RCMP and Assembly of First Nations Sign Agreement to Work Collaboratively on Issues Related to Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Persons

Quick Facts

• 67% of RCMP detachments proudly serve more than 600 Aboriginal communities.
• As of March 31, 2010, more than 1,500 regular members of the RCMP identified themselves as Aboriginal.
• In line with our priority to contribute to safer and healthier Aboriginal communities, the RCMP works collaboratively with Aboriginal communities, partners, stakeholders and organizations.

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 been a long-standing law enforcement partner of Aboriginal communities. We continue to develop a unique and important relationship with Aboriginal people living in Canada.

The RCMP's National Aboriginal Policing Services (NAPS) is responsible for planning, developing and managing the organization's strategies and initiatives. NAPS works closely with Aboriginal groups to develop innovative policing approaches that meet their distinctive needs.

Programs

NAPS oversees a number of Aboriginal programs and initiatives, including the following:

• Aboriginal Pre-Cadet Training Program offers Canadian Aboriginal people from the ages of 19-29, the opportunity to get an inside look at daily police work. This 17-week summer program provides the selected candidates with hands-on experience in the RCMP's training program and ample opportunity to do meaningful work in their community while working alongside members of the RCMP;
• Commissioner's National Aboriginal Advisory Committee;
• Aboriginal Perceptions Training;
• Inuit Perceptions Training;
• Community Profiles - online reports about detachment activities in specific communities; and
• Annual Performance Plans, which address an offence or negative social issue that concerns the community.

NAPS also provides support on the First Nations Policing Policy to its partners in the Aboriginal Policing Directorate of Public Safety Canada.

A main initiative of the RCMP's Drugs and Organized Crime Awareness Service's (DOCAS) is the Aboriginal Shield Program, a youth-driven program that provides substance abuse prevention and healthy lifestyles coaching to Aboriginal communities.

Serving First Nations, Inuit and Métis groups

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; and the
• Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.

Seeking Aboriginal representation

The RCMP developed a National Recruiting Strategy to ensure that our workforce is representative of the communities we serve; a component of the strategy focuses on encouraging Aboriginal people to become RCMP officers or civilian members.

In November 2010, the RCMP's Aboriginal Community Constable pilot program began. The program will allow the RCMP to attract, develop and retain persons with specific linguistic, cultural and community skills that go beyond those taught at Depot. This will enable the RCMP to tailor our policing services to specific, community-identified, needs.