RCMP’s Akwesasne liaison enjoys community work

For three years, RCMP Cpl. Cynthia Lord has gotten to know the people of Akwesasne and the workings of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and many different organizations and committees around the community.

Lord was assigned to be the RCMP – Akwesasne liaison person in 2007, a position held for many years by Cpl. Al Bennett until his transfer.

In response to recent concerns from community members regarding the RCMP, Lord and AMPS Chief of Police Jerry Swamp have stated that Lord’s position, duties and responsibilities do not include reporting information to the RCMP unit in Cornwall.  Instead, Lord reports administratively to her Aboriginal Policing Acting Staff Sergeant who is stationed at Six Nations Police.  Lord and five other corporals are part of a squad that is meant to act as a liaison person between the RCMP and aboriginal police departments.

“Her position is non-operational, and she is accountable to me. Anything she does gets my approval,” said Swamp.

Lord’s administrative duties include writing media releases, translating French information that comes into the AMPS station, reviewing and comparing AMPS policies with outside police policies, researching for the Chief of Police, and also being a good RCMP representative in the community.

Many of Lord’s duties are directly related to community events.  She is a member of the Akwesasne Coalition for Community Empowerment; she serves on the Akwesasne Winter Carnival Committee, assisted AMPS’ former youth educator with school visits and the Positive Tickets Campaign, and she has been an active member on many other community committees.  She is the co-chair of the Racing Against Drugs event – a racing themed anti-drug effort – and was most recently a part of the Akwesasne Senior Games Committee, going on earlier this month.  When she first began in her position in 2007, Lord expressed an interest in the safety of local schools if there were an active shooter in one of the buildings. As a result of that, she liaised with the Director of Mohawk Council Emergency Services and jointly organized a Mock Hostage taking incident at the Ahkwesahsne Mohawk School. This ultimately better prepared staff and emergency personnel if they were ever to encounter such a problem in area schools.

Last year, Lord coordinated Haudenosaunee Awareness Training at the Snye Recreation Center.  That event was also attended by representatives from the Ontario Provincial Police, Canada Border Services Agency and Cornwall Community Police, along with members of Akwesasne’s two police departments and was meant to provide information, history, and cultural awareness regarding Mohawks and other Haudenosaunee.

Lord said that her position was created initially as a result of a request in 1995 from MCA that they wanted a go-to person for questions related to the RCMP.  For many years, the liaison (Bennett) reported directly to Cornwall.  However, in 2003 the program changed and the Integrated Support Services Unit was formed, the unit Lord belongs to.

Her role is strictly non-operational. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the 9 standalone First Nations Chiefs of Police of Ontario and the RCMP, and now Lord’s unit meets with the First Nations Chiefs of Police twice a year.  The unit is separate from the Cornwall Regional Task Force and RCMP Detachment Unit in Cornwall.

The other members of her unit are located at Nishnawbe-Aski Police, Anishinabek Police Service, Six Nations Police, and Walpole Island Police. Up until recently, there were unit members at Mnjikaning Police Service, UCCM Anishnaabe Police, and Wikwemikong Police.

Anyone with further questions or concerns may contact Cpl. Lord or Chief Swamp at the Akwesasne Mohawk Police station.