First Nation Lac La Croix Patrol Zone Lac La Croix First Nation Big Island/Big Grassy Patrol Zone Big Grassy First Nation Anishnaabeg of Naongashiing 2013 Budget Issues Starting in March 2013, Treaty Three Police was forced into a position of laying off officers due to a chronic shortage of funding. According to the local Minister of Parliament Greg Rickford, the blame was on the Ontario Government which transferred money into an "Officer Recruitment Fund" to hire more officers, without a plan on what to do once the Officer Recruitment Fund was used up. In an effort to keep Treaty Three Police Service in existence, Police Chief Conrad Delaronde and the Chiefs of the communities it serves, had ignored the collective bargaining agreement, introduced a number of cost-cutting measures such as wage cuts, and eliminated paid maternity leave, which effectively reversed a recent arbitration decision to bring the officers to OPP parity. The Treaty Three Police Officers Union opposed these measures and requested the Board of Directors abide by the current contract, which expires in March 2014. According to Treaty Three Police Service management and the Chiefs of the communities, unless costs are drastically cut or a funding increase from the Federal or Provincial governments happens - the Chiefs have elected to disband the Police Service entirely to prevent the First Nations from accruing more financial obligations (the First Nations will be liable for any debts incurred by the Police Service). The officers were given 45 days notice. According to the Policing Agreement between Grand Council Treaty Three, the Ontario Government, and the Federal Government, withdrawal requires 12 months notice. Within hours of the announcement, a grassroots Facebook movement arose to generate support for the officers, questioning the speed, wisdom and legality of the decision to "bust the union". After a series of meetings and talks the Chiefs dissolved the old board and replaced those members with Chiefs that essentially worked to replace themselves with community members within months and renew the fight for adequate funding. In a surprise move, Chief Delaronde, Deputy Chief Armstrong and Deputy Chief Indian all resigned. The PSAC and Board then went to closed doors meetings. By the time Chief Delaronde relinquished command to Interim Chief of Police Dan Davidson, and after a number of controversial changes began to affect the budget, T3PS was in better, albeit still underfunded state. The layoff notice was then rescinded