The aboriginal land claim disputes in Caledonia and Deseronto are bleeding police resources from communities across the province, including Muskoka, and the Ontario government needs to do something about it, says district chair Gord Adams.

Adams’ comments came Friday following a report by Bracebridge OPP Inspector Ed Medved on the detachment’s recent activities. Local police detachments report regularly to a district committee of Muskoka’s six mayors and the chair, who oversee police services across the region.

When Medved reported that several Bracebridge OPP officers have been seconded to specialized police units across the province, Adams questioned whether those assignments involved the aboriginal land claim disputes in Caledonia and Deseronto.

Medved indicated that one police sergeant and two constables have been identified to service the communities. Four of the detachment’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) members are also called away to the disputes on an “as-needed basis.” Currently, however, all four ERT members and three officers are working locally, he said.

Medved could not provide a breakdown of the time local officers spend in either community, but estimated that all officers work mainly in Muskoka.

Adams, however, questioned the appropriateness of using ERT officers for the clash.

“When does something stop being an emergency?” Adams asked. “I don’t think that’s what the ERT team was established for. This (dispute) has been going on for years and years at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars. I just want it out on the table that Caledonia and Deseronto . . . are affecting police resources right across the province.”

In addition to the Bracebridge officers cited, two OPP officers from the Huntsville detachment, as well as several of the detachment’s ERT teammembers, have also been identified to service Caledonia and Deseronto on an as-needed basis, said Huntsville OPP detachment commander Mike Frew.

Frew would not specify the exact number of ERT officers that go to the communities in order to maintain “operational integrity” within the detachment.

Currently, Frew said no Huntsville officers are in Caledonia or Deseronto.

In response to Adams’ comments, Southern Georgian Bay OPP detachment Inspector Richard Philbin, who attended Friday’s meeting, said OPP detachments do “balance things out” when asked to contribute officers to other communities. Detachments always keep some ERT team members locally, in case of emergency, he said.

“Yes, it’s frustrating, but we do balance it out,” Philbin said.

“We never empty the cupboard,” agreed Medved. “Local police service is always maintained.”

While Muskoka sends officers out, Medved noted that it also benefits from the service and expertise of ERT officers deployed here from other communities during local investigations.

“It works both ways,” said the inspector.

Since it began in February 2006, the land claim dispute in Caledonia is estimated to have cost Ontario taxpayers upwards of $50 million. The majority of the cost is attributed to the 24-hour policing required in the community in order to stem violent clashes with native protestors. Six Nations members claim a 40-acre parcel of land — the subject of a proposed housing development — was wrongfully taken from them. A similar dispute is taking place in Deseronto between the Mohawks and another would-be developer.

As of February 2007, policing costs in Caledonia alone were $21.6 million, the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs website indicates.

The province is billed for the services of local police officers when they are deployed to the conflicts, indicated Mike Durnan, Muskoka’s director of finance.

Adams said his main concern about the disputes is not related to policing costs, but rather to how police resources are being managed across Ontario.

"It’s a service delivery issue to Muskoka over the long term,” he said. “The province of Ontario (has) to resolve this issue, because it appears to begetting worse, not better.”