Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree highlight $633.7 million Indigenous policing in Thunder Bay as NAPS launch border checks
THUNDER BAY, Ont. — Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree met with Indigenous leaders in Thunder Bay on Friday, Nov. 13, to highlight a $633.7-million federal investment over four years aimed at strengthening Indigenous policing and community safety across northern Ontario.
Speaking at Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) headquarters alongside Jobs and Families Minister and Thunder Bay–Superior North MP Patty Hajdu, Anandasangaree said the bulk of the four-year funding commitment from the 2026 federal budget will go directly to NAPS, which serves 34 First Nations communities across Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) territory.
The funding package also includes $140 million over four years for expanded Indigenous community safety programs to help communities respond to urgent public safety crises. NAN declared a territory-wide state of emergency in October 2025 over drug trafficking and drug-related deaths in remote communities.
Leaders Welcome Funding, Call for Essential-Service Recognition
Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict and NAN leaders welcomed the federal dollars as an important step toward stabilizing policing in isolated communities, while stressing that long-term legislative recognition of First Nations policing as an essential service remains unfinished business.
“These investments here are milestones to continue to work towards that,” Benedict said during Friday’s announcement,adding that Indigenous police services cannot be treated as non-essential in northern communities facing acute safety pressures.
Hajdu noted that police enforcement alone will not end the addiction and trafficking crisis in Northwestern Ontario,emphasizing the need for parallel investments in housing, health care and community infrastructure.
Airport Screening Pilot Project Targets Drug Smuggling
The announcement came the same week NAPS officially launched a border-control screening pilot at the Thunder Bay International Airport on Monday, Nov. 9. Under the program, NAPS officers are authorized by band council resolutions to search travellers flying into five participating remote First Nations: Eabametoong, Kasabonika Lake, Kashechewan,Sachigo Lake and Sandy Lake.
NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said the pilot responds to a mandate set by chiefs in 2022 to stop illicit drugs from entering fly-in communities, calling for border screening to become a permanent standard rather than a temporary trial.
