Killing of land defender Tortuguita in the United States could draw attention to the role of police foundations in Canada

Photo: Tortuguita with their nephew in 2020. Photo provided by Daniel Esteban Paez via the Associated Press.

Manuel Esteban “Tortuguita” Páez Terán was killed by Georgia police on January 18. They were 26 years old, Indigenous Venezuelan, queer and nonbinary, “a trained medic, a loving partner, a dear friend, a brave soul, and so much more.”

Tortuguita was living in the Weelaunee Forest southeast of Atlanta, Georgia in opposition to the proposed “Cop City” training facility.

Organizer-writer-lawyer Kamau Franklin has explained:

“Cop City is an idea that came after the 2020 uprisings, by the city of Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Department and the Atlanta Foundation — the Atlanta Police Foundation. The idea, basically, is that they want to develop a militarized police base that’s right next to a Black and Brown working-class community. And by building this base, they want to cut down over a hundred acres of forest. They want to develop an area where there is room for explosive testing — explosives testing, over 12 firing ranges, a place where there’s a Black Hawk helicopter landing pad, a training center for them to practice crowd control.”

The Atlanta Police Foundation

Forbes has also explained:

“In September 2021, then-Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms approved a lease agreement with the Atlanta Police Foundation to establish a police and fire department training facility, which will use over 85 acres of land in a local Atlanta forest, making it one of the largest police training facilities in the U.S. APF is a nonprofit organization, which uses private money to support policing efforts in various ways, like funding citywide surveillance cameras and founding a police leadership institute.”

Teen Vogue further explains:

“The Atlanta Police Foundation, a nonprofit that serves as the funding arm for many of the Atlanta Police Department’s projects and supplements the city’s already bloated policing budget, has led the charge on Cop City, whether promising the majority of funding ($60 million of $90 million total), selecting the Weelaunee Forest as the site of the proposed facility, or using its corporate backers to pressure city leadership to move forward with the plan despite widespread public opposition.”

And NBC has reported:

“City officials have said the training center would be funded in part by the Atlanta Police Foundation through “philanthropic and corporate donations”… According to an investigation by NBC affiliate WXIA, 80% of the foundation’s money comes from private donations, and the foundation’s board of trustees includes executives from Waffle House, AT&T, Delta Air Lines and other companies.”

LittleSis.org has also published the image below in their article: Meet the Major Corporations and Cultural Institutions Helping Build Cop City in Atlanta.

Enbridge funding of Minnesota police

It should be noted that funding provided (through an escrow account) by a Canadian energy company has also resulted in violence against land defenders in the U.S.

In October 2021, The Guardian reported that Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. paid Minnesota police $2.4 million in reimbursements, as Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman has noted for “all costs tied to the arrests and surveillance of hundreds of water protectors, including officer training, wages, overtime, meals, hotels and equipment for the local police.”

Ojibwe water protector Tara Zhaabowekwe Houska tweeted: “Rubber bullets bought and paid for by Enbridge.”

Police foundations in Canada

Almost three years ago, journalist Martin Lukacs and researcher Tim Groves highlighted the dynamic in Canada with their article: Private Firms Pour Millions into Militarizing Police via Charities (The Tyee, August 24, 2020).

They name several donors to police foundations including LNG Canada and the Royal Bank of Canada (to the Vancouver Police Foundation) and Enbridge, Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (to the Calgary Police Foundation).

Their article highlights:

“Canadian police forces have received millions of dollars from oil companies, banks and financiers, through shadowy charitable foundations that have little public oversight and increasingly serve as a “cash cow” of private money. These police-affiliated organizations based in large cities across Canada have funded helicopters, armoured vehicles and surveillance technology for police departments, as well as many community and youth-oriented programs, according to an investigation by The Tyee.”

Lukacs and Groves: “The VPD’s armoured vehicle carried a price tag of $350,000, most of it paid with charity dollars raised by the Vancouver Police Foundation, topped up by Vancouver taxpayers.”

RCMP Heritage Centre fundraising

Earlier this year, the Canadian Press reported: “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during the 2019 election campaign that the Liberals would expand the RCMP Heritage Centre, which is currently operated by a charitable organization, into a national institution. …The centre has spent years advocating to gain national museum status, which would require the federal government to amend the Museums Act. National museums operate as Crown Corporations and have their operating costs covered by Ottawa.”

(National museums in Canada include the Canadian Museum of History which has been criticized in the past by 350.org for its sponsorship agreement with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.)

The RCMP Heritage Centre has also explained: “With excitement building around the 150th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and supported by a mandate to commemorate this significant part of Canadian history, the RCMP Heritage Centre is advancing plans to become Canada’s newest national museum.”

“To prepare for the path ahead,” it also recently advertised for a Fund Development Associate whose tasks would include: “Research public and private grant agencies, foundations, corporations and individuals to identify potential sources of grant, sponsorship and major gift or donation funding.”

Photo: Teepee with RCMP logo on it outside the RCMP Heritage Centre.

How will the story of the C-IRG be told?

The RCMP Heritage Centre has noted: “There are many proud chapters in the RCMP story, and others that are intensely painful. By acknowledging the struggles of the past, the Museum will offer the chance for visitors to reflect, hear from diverse perspectives, and learn about Canada’s history and its future.”

But how would the story of the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) be told by the Heritage Centre or the new national museum?

The RCMP says:

“The Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) was created in 2017 to provide strategic oversight addressing energy industry incidents and related public order, national security and crime issues. Its mandate is to ensure a consistent, standardized and impartially administered police response across the province. The C-IRG uses a measured approach in facilitating the peaceful resolution of public disorder issues. They proactively engage all stakeholders through open communication and meaningful dialogue.”

Wet’suwet’en land defenders have a different experience to tell about the C-IRG.

At a Decolonial Solidarity event in Montreal in December of last year, land defender Sleydo said: “The RCMP, the private mercenaries for industry and governments, the Community-Industry Response Group.”

She has also stated: “We want to live free on our lands, without the constant threat of violence by C-IRG, who are illegally occupying Gidimt’en territory.” 

On November 23, 2021, Sleydo’ emerged from four days in police custody following the heavily-armed RCMP raid on her territory that enabled the continued construction of the RBC-financed Coastal GasLink pipeline without free, prior and informed consent. She said: “C-IRG and the RCMP need to be abolished. Anybody who is not into prison abolition should be after this experience that we’ve had.”

We continue to follow this.