Anger and frustration were the feelings shared at a press conference at Dakota Tipi First Nation today, following yesterday's shooting that seriously injured 31 year-old Gracie Prince and 48 year-old Chris Pashé. Band Councillor Karl Stone led the conference, and says the incident stems from years of struggling on the First Nation, which has seen former councillors mismanaging finances, major cuts to federal funding, high unemployment rates, and drugs coming into the community.

"Dakota Tipi First Nation has been working to try and create dialogue with the provincial government. Unsuccessfully we've met with the provincial government and the feds, with no success. We've not gotten anywhere."

However, it's not just the conditions in First Nation's communities leading up to the shooting being criticized by the community leaders. Former Chief Terry Nelson says yesterday's manhunt, which lasted almost 9 hours, could have been over much sooner, adding he questions the RCMP's priorities.

"They left us out there in the community. There was no police presence. They did no police sweep, and the man was 50 yards from his house the whole time. There was no police sweep, there were no dogs, their interest, it seemed, was in protecting the city of Portage la Prairie, as opposed to protecting the people in the community."

The press conference also saw the First Nation reveal their plan to improve life in the community. It includes holding a summit among the Dakota Nations to address the challenges faced

Karl Stone discusses the First Nations action planacross the region, as well as creating more economic development opportunities. However, Stone says while they've been working to create a casino to create jobs for about 25 years, there's little help from the federal government.

"The federal government is funding us hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in welfare, but they'll only give us $40,000 a year for economic development to create opportunities for jobs for our people. There's something wrong with the system."

 

Their third recommendation is to have the Dakota people establish their own police force, which would enforce laws specific to the First Nations. Southern Chiefs Organization Grand Chief Terry Nelson says yesterday's shooting could have been avoided, noting the issues leading to the incident have been reported time and time again.

"Dakota people are the ones that are suffering. They've tried time, and time, and time again. I've heard that from the people of Dakota Tipi. They've reported the drugs many times to the RCMP and nothing happened. This is why the Dakota people are wanting to establish their own police force, and arm their own police force."

While the Dakota Ojibway Police Service is in place, Nelson --A former Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council officer-- says they're little more than a First Nations division of the RCMP.

"As a Dakota Ojibway police officer, when I was a DOTC police officer, they gave me a .357 Magnum, and I had a license. As an officer, all I was able to do was enforce the white man's laws on our people. I was a brown face in a system that enforced the laws against our people."

As a part of that, they want to see more proactive measures in place. Community leaders pointed to mental health resources, and preventative programming through police would be ideal ways to combat crime in First Nations, rather than simply putting them in jail once a crime's been committed.

Those at the conference also stated while they're pleased to see the Liberal government taking steps to improve living conditions on First Nations, they've yet to meet with, or see any funding from the federal government.