Police Chief Rob Davis

Robert Davis is a Mohawk of the Six Nations of the Grand River people.  His father was of Mohawk origin from the Six Nations of the Grand River and his mother was of English and Swedish origin from the Dryden and Wabigoon area. The people of the Six Nations reserve are divided into those who maintained the traditional spiritual beliefs, called the Longhouse and those who adopted Western traditions and many of those are referred to as United Empire Loyalists. Rob’s family considered themselves United Empire Loyalists and adopted the Anglican religious traditions.

Robert has deep family roots in Dryden. His great grandfather C.J. Wright was a two term mayor of Dryden before and after the Second World War.  His grandfather Cyril Wright was councilor for the town of Dryden spanning four decades.

The Six Nations fought alongside the British forces during the war of 1812. After that war, they were expatriated from the United States and moved northward to Canada. In recognition of their loyalty to the British Commonwealth, Queen Victoria granted the Six Nations peoples the territory from the mouth and the source of the Grand River as well as six miles on both sides of the river. This is commonly referred to as the “Haldimand Tract”. Here, the Six Nations people re-established their agricultural lifestyle.

Robert was raised on the Six Nations reserve and spent his elementary school years at schools located on the Six Nations reserve. The first school he attended, during his kindergarten year of 1975, was a small two room school. The children enrolled in kindergarten, grade one, two and three were educated in one room, while the students in grades four five and six were educated in the second room.  During recess, the girls and boys were allowed to play with each other on the playground. But when the bell rang the boys lined up at the boy’s door and the girls lined up at the girl’s door. When the teacher rang a hand-held bell the girls went into the school first and removed their outdoor clothing and then the boys were allowed to enter the school and change.  The separate boys and girls door was a tradition carried down from the residential school period.

In 1976, a new elementary school was constructed on the reserve and Robert studied there until grade eight. Growing up on the reserve during the early 1970s was a wonderful time for him. As there were only a limited number of television stations and radio stations, children spent a lot of time in the outdoors swimming, fishing, building water rafts and tree forts in the bush. Fishing, and looking for snakes and crabs was another popular activity among the boys.

Robert remarks that there was no push or drive from the school for the students to excel academically. When he reached grade nine at the Caledonian high school located off reserve, he found that he was behind in core subjects like mathematics and French.  A few teachers noticed Robert trying his best to get caught up so they set up extra help sessions for him at lunch. While other students socialized during lunch period, Rob remembers running to his locker, grabbing his lunch and going up to Math or French classes for extra help.

From the earliest time, he can remember how his father, mother and grandfather instilled a pride in him with respect to his Mohawk heritage and to accept the cultural traditions. However, they would not allow him to use his heritage as a crutch in life, rather they encouraged him to strive to get a good education and not become a “follower”.

Robert relates the story of the “crab bucket” that is analogous to the life of many Native people. The story goes as follows:  there were two men fishing, one Native and one non-Native. Each had a bucket of crabs that they used as bait. When the non-Native opened the top of the bucket to retrieve a crab he then closed the top so that the other crabs would not crawl out and escape. On the other hand, when the Native fisherman opened the top of the bucket to retrieve a crab, he left the lid open.  The non-Native man questioned how the open lid would allow the other crabs to escape. The Native man replied that his was a “Native crab bucket” and therefore the other crabs would pull any aspiring crab back into the bucket.

Robert recalls the Saturday and Sunday morning family breakfasts. It was ironic, Robert recalls, that though the family was together, communication was hushed, in order to listen to the radio station. The station would report the names of band members who were victims of violent crimes or who were involved in alcohol-related car accidents.

When Robert started secondary school at the Caledonia high school it was initially an eye opener, in a positive sense. First of all, the principal was of German origin and the vice-principal was of First Nations descent. The two administrators were very strict and told the students that they would not tolerate racism of any kind.  Their discipline ensured that there was no racial nonsense.  This set the tone for the school and it was a positive one at that.

In the entrance way of the Caledonian high school, there is a plaque commemorating the notable accomplishments of alumni from the school. One such plaque honours Robert’s great uncle, Edward Davis, who became the first Aboriginal medical doctor in Canada. In received his medical degree in 1913.

However, like many people of First Nation descent growing up in Canada, Robert did experience covert racism. His grade nine girl-friend was a white girl and she said that she could not introduce Robert to her parents because he was of First Nation descent.  There were innuendos that her parents attached to First Nation children.  The belief that many First Nation children were thieves was one such inference that her parents made. But on a positive note, and over time, his girlfriend’s parents accepted Robert. However, this experience left a lasting impression of racism for him.

Football has always been a passion for Robert as he made the starting lineup for the Caledonian high school football team by the end of Grade nine.

Throughout high school, Robert continued to play football and with hard work, especially in the core subject areas, Robert succeeded academically. His intention after high school was to join the military and to enroll in the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. He was also scouted by a few universities to play football. McMaster, Sir Wilfred Laurier and Mount Allison were among three schools that expressed interest in Robert attending and playing football.

Ironically, it was an incident at high school that steered Robert towards a career in policing.  His locker was vandalized and in the process of describing the incident to the police, he was told that he had excellent observational skills and that he should consider policing as a career.  He was asked to join the auxiliary police force with the Haldimand Norfolk regional police and this required a minimum of twelve hours of service time a month, even though Rob often put in many more hours.  Some of the duties included general patrol, the RIDE program for impaired drivers, traffic control and a lot of foot patrol or walking the beat.

It was during this time that he literally “fell in love” with policing. He decided to attend McMaster University and study sociology with a specialty in social deviant behavior.  While at McMaster, he continued to play football.

After three years of study, he heard that the Six Nations reserve was looking for police officers to enlist and join the force.  Initially Robert told himself that he would never enlist with the police force on his home reserve. However, he was steered towards being a police officer on his home reserve and on August 29^th 1994, he was sworn in as a police constable.

Policing on the Six Nations reserve was an eye opener for Robert. First of all, the force was new as it was the first established all Native police force in Ontario. As a result, they often used second hand equipment from the OPP. A few of the squad cars were retired automobiles from the OPP and did not have reliable heating or air conditioning. Rob remembers those days as almost comical.  It was difficult pursuing a stolen car using an old outdated police cruiser.  The crime rate was high. Stabbings, aggravated assault, and weapons offenses were common. With only ten police officers along with the outdated equipment, the Six Nations Reserve police force had a difficult job to perform. What compounded the problem was the distrust that the people of the Six Nations reserve held for the RCMP, OPP and other police forces.  Previous police forces often used heavy-handed policing measures with the people, and this led to mistrust of any policing agency.

In 1996, the situation with the Six Nations police force improved. The force received new equipment, new cruisers and additional training, so the morale was better among the police constables. This then led to improved policing capabilities, interaction, protection and enforcement of the laws on the Six Nations Reserve.

Robert has worked for various police departments throughout his career. As previously stated, his first posting was as a special constable with the Haldimand Norfolk police auxiliary unit.  He was a constable with the Six Nations police and rose to the ranks of Sergeant and Detective Sergeant with that force. He also served as an Inspector with the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Department as the officer in charge of the North West region. The Nishnawbe-Aski Police Department serves many First Nation communities from the Manitoba border up to the James Bay Coast to the Quebec border. Rob remembers that he and police officers from India and Pakistan quickly developed a special bond because of their shared experience with colonialism. This transitioned into a positive learning for the foreign officers and Rob. He returned to the Six Nations force as an Inspector and eventually obtaining the rank of acting deputy chief. Finally, he came to Dryden and was sworn in as police chief on August 29^th 2011.

Robert spearheaded the integration of the Six Nations police force Criminal Intelligence Service of Ontario (CISO).  This enabled the sharing of information between the different police organizations, especially information on organized crime. The admittance of the Six Nations Police force to the Intelligence bureau gave the Police force credence and endorsed it as a valid police service.

The protocol that Robert initiated has now been adopted by many First Nations police forces around the country as they better integrate their forces along with other police forces and participate in the sharing of criminal information.

 As for the present situation of First Nations peoples, Robert strongly believes that education is the key that will break the disparity and improve the predicament that they find themselves in today. They must abandon the “crab bucket” mentality and actively seek out assistance when in need. He contends that the seeking of assistance is not a sign of weakness.

Police Chief Robert Davis has an excellent rapport with many of the students at Dryden High School. He believes in a strong visible police presence at the school.  

At a provincial level, Police Chief Rob believes that Ontario has a lot of work to do on the issue of Aboriginal youth gang prevention programs. Other provinces have already initiated programs in Grades seven and eight and even younger to prevent young children from enlisting with youth gangs. Ontario does not yet have such programs at those younger grade levels.

At a national level, he believes that provinces such as Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan should not look overseas for skilled or unskilled labour, but rather they should develop apprenticeship opportunities for the many First Nations people who could fill those highly needed employment positions.

Finally, Robert expounds on some of the interesting cultural differences between the Ojibwa people and the Six Nations people. For example, the Ojibwa people use large drums during their powwows and dance in a clockwise manner. The Six Nations people use a small drum known as a water drum and dance in a counter clockwise manner.  The Mohawk people also make use of turtle rattlers made from turtles and shake them during rituals and dances.  In addition, Mohawk people will use full face masks during their ceremonies.