While it’s been a common mantra among racial justice advocates to defund the police and redirect that money to social programs, it isn’t as cut-and-dried under a Canadian system, said some members of District of Squamish council.
“Mental health and addiction is not what [municipalities] do. That’s the provincial responsibility. So, if we took money out of the RCMP budget, we would put it into roads and pipes and active transportation — we would not get into the business of delivering mental health services,” said Mayor Karen Elliott.
“I hope that our community understands that police budgets here are not built in the same way [as] the States.”
The remarks were made during council’s June 9 committee of the whole meeting, three days after hundreds of protesters blanketed Junction Park, raising their voices against racism.
Coun. Doug Race echoed the mayor’s words.
“I’m very leery of jumping on the bandwagon when it starts off in the States,” said Race. “And some of the things that come out of there I just don’t think are necessarily applicable, and one of them is the funding model.”
He said the public safety master planning process would be the ideal place to address issues of policing, social services and mental health.
The municipality intends to undergo a public safety master planning process later this year, and it’s presumed these topics, as well as how they relate to race, would be examined then.
“We do not fund municipal mental health services and social services...but, I think, effectively, what’s happened is because the province has pulled out of that, we’ve been forced to essentially deal with mental health and social services using a police force, which is, I think, in many circumstances, an ineffective way of doing that,” said Coun. Chris Pettingill.
“Maybe it does make more sense to put more money into Helping Hands or some of those things for some cases or certain situations.”
Squamish’s demonstration was just one of many protests that have swept the world in the last two weeks following George Floyd’s death.
Floyd, an unarmed Black man, died after a white police officer in Minneapolis used his knee to press down on his neck for more than eight minutes.
Council’s meeting fell on the day of Floyd’s funeral.
Since Floyd’s death, activists have been calling for authorities to de-fund the police and use that money for social programs that would reduce poverty and help people with mental health issues.
Some residents in town have echoed those calls.
“Systemic and institutional police bias towards racialized individuals and communities needs to be dismantled,” wrote Tricia Kerr in a letter to council.
“This isn’t just an American problem or a recent problem; this is present and well-documented in Canada. Council needs to address defunding the police. While this will broadly need to be addressed at the national level, the District of Squamish can still act at the municipal level and redirect funding for RCMP to local social programs and resources. Police reform has been unsuccessful and more attempts at reform will yield the same results.”
During the council meeting, municipal staff presented politicians with an update on the local RCMP’s budget.
Staff said that they were sending documents to the province and the RCMP that indicated the municipality was interested in increasing its police force by three officers next year.
Natasha Golbeck, the municipality’s senior director of community services, said this was not a binding request, but rather something done for planning purposes. The number of officers requested can be changed at a later date.
Coun. Jenna Stoner asked why the District could not just refrain from asking for the additional officers until it was sure about how many it wanted.
“I don’t feel comfortable asking for the increase in envelope without not necessarily knowing that that’s really what we need at this point,” said Stoner.
“I think it doesn’t necessarily send the right signal that that is the direction we want to be going.”
Golbeck replied that this could create a lengthy delay if the municipality ultimately decides it wants the additional officers, as it takes 12 to 18 months to find suitable candidates.
The local detachment would then be understaffed and have to dip into overtime pay in the meantime, she said.
Council voted 6-1 in favour of acknowledging that they had received the budget report from staff. Coun. Chris Pettingill was the sole dissenting vote.
In a separate motion, council voted unanimously in favour of sending letters to the Union of B.C. Municipalities and various provincial ministers that would relay Squamish’s interest in finding alternative financing measures to support community safety in B.C.
Stoner proposed this motion.
These motions are not final, but are expected to be ratified at council’s next special business meeting.
For the 2020 to 2021 budget year, the force has 26 officers and total policing costs have added up to about $5 million, a report to council says.
For the proposed RCMP budget for 2021 to 2022, those numbers jump to 29 and $5.45 million, respectively.
Aside from an uptick in staff, increases in funds are anticipated as a result of a 2.5% pay raise, Woodfibre LNG-related policing, training costs, and software, among other things.
Further down the road, a five-year salary forecast anticipates 31 officers by the 2022 to 2023 budget year, though no further officers are added for the next three budget years.
Each officer costs about $100,000, the document states.
Five-year salary forecasts are not binding, and are used only for planning purposes.
