__| Native police - ! | tn | photo Neli Lucente CONST. LANCE Marchand of the First Nations Tribal Police force is undertaking police training with the West Vancouver Police. Const. Doug Buchanan (right) and Const. Stuart Nowacki have been working with Marchand during his period with West Vancouver Police. LGH closing same number of beds as in previous summers LIONS GATE Hospital will not be driven to bed closures by budget deficits as are some other B.C. hospitals, ac- The indefinite bed closures at hospitals such as Burnaby Hospi- tal where 40 acute care beds are being closed are a reaction to budget requirements, Smith said. However, he did not anticipate LGH would be forced to take the same measures. “I think everybody at the hos- pital knows we have to manage our resources efficiently and ef- cording to the LGH president and CEO Bob Smith. By Elizabeth Collings News Reporter fectively and 1 think we’re doing that,’’ he said. Meanwhile, the hospital will go ahead with its normal summer bed closures. Smith the said one-third of index @ High Profites ......... 16 @ Cocktails & Caviar @ Comics @ Fashion & Lifestyles B® Spiritually Speaking @ Travel @ Vintage Years ® What's Going On Weather Monday and Tuesday, mostly sunny. Highs 23°C. Second Class Registration Number 3885 hospital beds, or approximately 125 beds, were gradually closed last week. The beds wiil remain closed for 24% weeks before they are phased back into hospital use the following week. LGH has been closing the same number of beds for a period dur- ing the summer since 1982 or earlier, Smith said. The bed closures are necessary, in part, because the hospital is obligated under collective agree- ments to provide summer holidays to staff. The arrangement com- promises the hospital’s ability to staff the full quota of beds, Smith said. As well, patient demand usually falls off during the summer, especially for elective surgery, he noted. “We plan a year in advance how to have enough resources and how to staff the summers,"’ said Smith. The hospital will close one-third of the beds in most wards rather than close entire wards. This strategy, introduced last year, is less disruptive for pa- tients, he said. “We don’t end up shunting them all over the hospital.” LGH also closes beds during Christmas and the spring school break. Sunday August 11, 1991. Norih Snore News - 3 program draws local interest First graduates sworn in as special provincia! constables A NEW tribal police program has drawn interest from the Burrard and Squainish bands: both anticipate enrolling local band members in the the newly formed First Nations Tribal Justice Institute. Meanwhile two tribal police of- ficers, currently training with West Vancouver Police, are among the first group of students fo graduate from a program founded by Micmac native Jim Maloney. Okanagan native {ance Mar- chand and Kitwancool native Leslie Maclean are putting polic- ing theory to practice locally with West Vancouver Police. Tweiity- seven other tribal police trainees have been sworn in as special provincial constables and are undertaking field training throughout the province with 31 B.C. municipal police departments and the RCMP. Once 1[0-week practicums are completed, the trainees will return to their respective or supporting bands to work as tribal peace of- ficers. A First Nations police of- ficer is responsible to band council and works by authority of Section 81 of the Indian Act. According to Marchand, 22, the one-year native police program has attracted applicants from across the country. In addition to police academy training, trainees undertake 300 hours of native cultural study; 150 hours are spent on alcohol and drug-related issues and more than 130 hours are dedicated to suicide intervention. Once Marchand's training period with West Vancouver Police is completed, he will return to Vernon. His tribal council is currently negotiating a budget proposal for its own policing ser- vice and is also drafting protecol agreements with the RCMP and the provincial government. Said Marchand, ‘‘[ always wanted to be a police officer since 1 was a kid. I’ve gone through university, sociology, anthropolo- gy. Everything I’ve done was to learn more about people’s ways. 1 want to do something tc help the native people out. Because of the situations faced on native reserves... there's help needed."’ Working on the reserve, among his people, Marchand believes he will be able to approach his job with empathy and a strong sense of the community's values. Said Marchand, ‘‘For example a Blood reserve tribal policeman in Alberta started his tribal police program after working for Ed- monton City Police. He gave the police officers different objectives. For example, one instance — if the natives are travelling on the reserve and they come across a deer. If from a hunter’s perspec- tive it was able to be taken, the officer would shoot the deer and give7it to the elders of the reserve. The police officer is seen as benefiting the reserve. That's kind of the perspective we want to come from.** Marchand’s Okanagan reserve numbers approximately 1,200 members, The reserve has a native RCMP officer attached to it. “The relationship between our reserve and the RCMP is a good one to a certain point. We've never had any ill dealings. But one shortcoming in our area is that they do not provide enough coverage for our reserve. Certain calls to the reserve, the RCMP do By Michael Becker News Reporter BURRARD BAND Chief Len George... a band member has expressed interest in program. not come out and check things out. That kind of caused a few people to raise eyebrows and say, ‘Well that’s not right." Traffic tickets and speeding tickets shouldn't be the only things we see from police on the reserve,"’ he said. Meanwhile Burrard Band Chief Len George said a band member has expressed interest in joining the native police program. ‘‘We'd really like to have one person go- ing for us,'’ George said. While he said that the relation- ship between the band and North Vancouver RCMP has improved over the years, a tribal police system would be a positive devel- opment. ‘It’s kind of going back to old systems. The more respon- sibility you take, the heafthier you are. We know what's best for our community. We sort of drifted in- to becoming an automated society where we had everything done for us. That made it easy for us to turn our back on problems in our community.’’ The Squamish band is also in- vestigating the possibility of sen- ding members to enrol in the trib- al police program. ‘I think it’s a darn good thing. I'd like to send as many as we can. [ would like to go myself,’’ said Sam George. Sam George is a peacekeeper. His band has been working with its own system of *‘peacekeepers’’ for the past year. Peacekeepers are mandated to uphold band council bylaws. “As peacekeepers we originally had 34 members, 20 up Squamish and 14 down here. But I think we're down to about 12 down here,"’ he said. Peacekeepers are on 24-hour call and equipped with an emergency phone system which includes a cellular telephone. They do not carry weapons. George is karate trained. ‘We've had a bit of special training, but a lack of funds forced us to cancel that. If it gets too heavy we just phone the RCMP,” he said. West Vancouver Police also respond to complaints when called to the reserve. But George says the peacekeeper approach to policing on the reserve is working well.