First Nations police call for funding to stop flow of illegal firearms through Indigenous land

Gun violence has been trending upward in Toronto for the last decade, although the number of fatal and non-fatal shootings dipped during the pandemic. So far this year, according to Toronto police, 120 people have been killed or injured by gunfire, a 3.4 per cent uptick over the same period last year.

Despite Canada’s relatively strict gun control, criminals continue to access firearms. Police attribute that largely to smuggling from the United States, a country awash with weapons and looser restrictions. Handguns can be purchased for a few hundred dollars and sold on the black market here for thousands.

Sampson made his funding appeal to the provincial and federal governments flanked by representatives of several municipal police services, including York, Peel and London. They had gathered to announce details of a joint-forces operation that officials say dismantled a large-scale gun and drug trafficking network operating in Ontario.

The investigation into a suspected drug dealer began last October in York Region. As it evolved, police discovered a U.S.-Canada firearms smuggling pipeline.

Some of the 27 firearms on display at York police headquarters Wednesday were smuggled onto Walpole Island First Nation in southwestern Ontario. Walpole is a collection of six islands at the mouth of the St. Clair River, on the border between Ontario and Michigan.

Twenty of the guns were traced back to Florida, Michigan and Ohio. Police arrested 22 people on more than 400 charges in Brampton, London and Toronto and seized more than $1.3 million worth of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl.

The police leaders wouldn’t say if boats were used to transport the guns across the river onto Walpole, but earlier this year, a drone with 11 guns attached got stuck in a tree in nearby Lambton County. Sampson told the Star some believed that drone was destined for Walpole before it went astray. No one has been charged in that incident, which police don’t believe was connected to this investigation, called “Project Monarch.”

Walpole Island First Nation’s police force is simply outmatched by the smugglers determined to bring contraband into Canada, whether by air, water or land, Sampson said. The Walpole police service has about 10 officers in the field and one boat — yet must protect the international border and “miles and miles of coastline,” he said.

“What we need is a whole marine division to do the job effectively.”

Also in attendance Wednesday was Supt. Abeid Morgan, assistant director of Canada Border Services Agency’s criminal investigations section. He said while the CBSA has staff at a port of entry on Walpole, the rest of the island is not the CBSA’s responsibility to manage.

Gary Maracle, superintendent of the Ontario Provincial Police’s Indigenous policing bureau, told the Star that Walpole, like many First Nations in Ontario, is close to the U.S.-Canada border, presenting many unique challenges.

“There are geographical vulnerabilities and a lack of resources that makes them sometimes a prime target for the criminal element.”

The federal government has introduced various measures recently to combat gun violence, including banning new handgun sales. The public safety minister has also pledged to give law enforcement more resources for enhanced tools to detect some of the ingenious methods used by smugglers.