Mike Ellis says he is shoring up the Alberta sheriffs and giving communities the power to choose if the RCMP is right for their needs
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“There’s a leadership gap in the federal government we’re watching play out in real time,” said Ellis, also Alberta’s deputy premier, in a year-end interview with the National Post.
Ellis said that the federal filibustering has real-world consequences.
“What we have now is violent repeat offenders (who) are going into the streets and wreaking havoc within our communities,” said Ellis, an ex-police officer.
“This has been consistent with stories I often hear throughout Alberta and, quite frankly, throughout Canada,” said Ellis.
“We have violent repeat offenders that are being released onto the streets and these are the sort of things they do when you have these sorts of soft on crime policies in place. They just don’t work.”
Ellis said that he hasn’t met with Singh’s family yet but would “welcome and look forward to the opportunity” to do so.
Ellis also said that he’s keeping an eye out to 2032, when the RCMP’s community policing contract with Alberta and 11 other provincial and territorial jurisdictions is set to expire.
In the meantime, Ellis says he is pursuing a two-track strategy of shoring up the province-led Alberta sheriffs and giving local communities the power to choose if the RCMP is right for their needs.
“I’m trying to make sure that all options are on the table,” said Ellis.
“I have some communities that have indicated to me that they want to continue contracting with the RCMP (and) others indicate that they do not wish to continue… that’s a decision we need to respect either way.”
“Time and time again, I keep hearing complaints about how unsafe people feel in our First Nations communities with the lack of police presence there,” said Ellis. “This is why I’m doing what I can to help create self-administered policing services.”
Ellis said that self-administered policing has vast potential to create leadership opportunities for young people who live in Indigenous communities.
“Not everybody can be a chief or councillor,” said Ellis. “But as we continue to roll out self-administered policing, young people who want to give back can be constables, or serve their communities in any number of capacities.”
“That’s something that’s part of the paradigm shift that we’re doing here in Alberta.”
National Post
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