âIâm happy to announce that our governments today, Canada and Manitoba, are jointly supporting two major investments in First Nations policing and community safety here in the province under the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program,â Anandasangaree said. âThis money will strengthen its capacity to deliver First Nations-led, culturally informed policing to the 12 First Nations communities that it currently serves.â
The funding includes $121 million for the Manitoba First Nations Police Service from 2023-27 and $42.5 million to expand the Manitoba First Nation Safety Officer Program from 2025-28.
Anandasangaree said the funding will help expand the safety officer program to all 63 First Nations in Manitoba by 2028.
âFirst Nations safety officers play a key role in the provincial public safety strategy, complementing and at times augmenting the role of the RCMP,â Anandasangaree said. âWe will also provide improved training, equipment, communication tools and more equitable resources that are distributed across communities in Manitoba.â
MFNPS Chief Jason Colon, who attended the press conference, said the funding has allowed the service to dedicate officers for in-house training and purchase equipment such as body cameras, vehicle cameras and surveillance cameras at detachments.
The funding has also enabled the MFNPS to expand into two new communities in recent years â Fisher River Cree Nation and Gambler First Nation.
The police service is currently trying to secure funding for a Crime Reduction and Enforcement Unit, which targets crimes related to gangs, drugs and firearms, he said.
âWeâre hoping in the next few years to have this position, this unit funded as full-time.â
Colon said the expansion of policing capacity in rural First Nations during the past few years has benefited people outside those communities as well, enhancing overall law-enforcement presence across the province.
He also noted the MFNPS works closely with the Winnipeg Police Service and the Brandon Police Service.
âCrime doesnât really look at borders,â he said. âPeople from outside our communities are transporting substances, and by us having the resources to deal with those things, it supports the surrounding communities as well.â
Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe echoed those comments.
âThereâs definitely a community focus to the work thatâs happening with the FNSOs, with First Nations police,â he said at the press conference. âBut I want to be clear: the work that they do is not simply focused on their own communities.â
He pointed to a case where First Nation safety officers in Bunibonibee Cree Nation identified drugs that were being brought into the community, leading to a deeper investigation by RCMP, which carried out arrests across the province.
âItâs an example of how public safety in one community impacts other communities,â Wiebe said.
âI think that thereâs an element here where First Nations police are doing work that is complementing and adding to the work thatâs happening with the RCMP and at the community level with the FNSO.â
Copyright 2026, Brandon Sun. All rights reserved.
Connor McDowell, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brandon Sun.
