New Brunswick has announced $3.6 million for a peacekeeping program in eight Mi’gmaq communities.
Funding for the Mi’gmaq Peacekeeping Initiative will be provided over three years, the province said in a news release.
Community safety officers from Mi’gmaq communities are trained to focus on early intervention, deterrence, de-escalation and relationship-building.
“This is a first step in having our communities exercise self-determination over justice in our communities,” Chief George Ginnish of Natoaganeg (Eel Ground) First Nation said in a news release.
“The peacekeepers program is already seeing results in our communities. We hope the province will see how funding programs like this will benefit our communities and the justice system as a whole.”
The unarmed peacekeepers address issues related to mental health, addiction, generational trauma, gender-based violence and colonial legacies.
Officials said the approach is meant to result in more effective relationships with local police and lower incarceration rates among Indigenous peoples.
