On behalf of the members of the Anishinabek Police Service I am pleased to welcome you to our new webpage. To those of you unfamiliar with the A.P.S. we provide policing services for sixteen individual First Nations that are located throughout the Province of Ontario. A detailed map of our detachment locations is contained under the Detachments tab. I encourage you to return often to our website as additional information will be continually updated which will provide you further insight into the valuable work that our members are providing to the communities we serve.

Our police service continues to look for innovative ways to maintain environments where safety of all citizens is assured. Our task is not an easy one and the successes that we have achieved were largely through effective partnerships with our political leaders and policing partners. These successes will form part of the foundation for the ultimate building of our own Anishinabek justice system.

The use of the worldwide web is a logical step in the sharing of information and identifying the direction our police service is going. I would encourage you to take a moment to review our first ever A.P.S. Business Plan and follow us along as we work toward our future.

Policing our communities is an ongoing challenge for the A.P.S. I am proud to lead such a fine group of dedicated officers and civilian support staff in the provision of policing services for our people.

Police Chief John Syrette

Booshoo Kina awiiya"; Hello Everyone: As the Chairperson of this exceptional police service, I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of Anishinabek Police Service over the last couple of years. As we move to a more efficient and accountable service, we need to recognize that we have been successful in managing a number of historical obstacles. As a progressive renewed service, I applaud the hard work and dedication of the Police Governing Authority, Police Council and staff.

Policing in our communities has been developed and implemented over the last decade or so which has made some positive effects in our communities that have been a part of the Anishinabek Police Services since its beginning.

Over time, we grew from 4 to 18 communities and while we are no longer policing in two of those communities, we still we feel there is room for growth.

In negotiating our agreements the issue of adequate human resources is always on the table, even though the audits and review of services have been conducted and we have supplied information to support the need for additional personnel and financial support.

Both governments fail to recognize our human resource and financial needs. It is my belief that an adequate yardstick to measure Aboriginal police services does not exist and we must therefore attempt to meet Provincial standards - which does not consider our respective unique needs of individual sovereign Nations. There is no consideration for community service initiatives which acts as a catalyst for crime prevention. Nor is there any thought in relation to the role and responsibility of a First Nation constable - who deals with a multitude of jurisdictional matters impacting each and every one of our communities.

We are extremely frustrated in the process when accepting new member First Nations or those wanting to return to our service, as the governments have denied us the transitional resources required. As we move forward, hopefully the dialogue generated between all parties will result in an understanding of First Nation policing issues that will affect change in how resources are allocated. As we grow it is anticipated that the services shall expand and hopefully address the problems and issues our First Nations face in dealing with ongoing and growing problems in our communities. We can only survive with policing our communities by collectively supporting a renewed policing effort through our officers and member Nations.

Let us all make policing a part of our communities and commit to being a part of better system for protecting and addressing the many problems our communities face.

Miigwetch Mike Esquega Sr.