For the second time in four years, an administrator has been appointed to oversee the Thunder Bay Police Department, Ont.
The Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC), a police surveillance agency, announced Tuesday that it has appointed attorney Malcolm Mercer as administrator of the Thunder Bay Police Service Council (TBPSB) for an initial six-month term under an order issued by Sean Weir, executive chairman of the Ontario tribunal.
The OCPC has been investigating the leadership and administration of the police service for more than two months.
Mercer has been given significant powers, which essentially act as the supervisory board for the oversight of the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) and the provision of community policing. He will vote only on all issues before him.
“After reviewing the information gathered by the commission, I am of the opinion that there is an emergency situation in [Thunder Bay] supervision on board [TBPS]”Weir said in the order.
Weir said the council could not work effectively and argued that recommendations made during the latest investigation by the civilian police commission remained unfulfilled. The investigation was led by Murray Sinclair and led to a 2018 report that included 45 recommendations for tackling systemic discrimination and inefficient police governance.
“The dysfunction of [board] is regularly reported in the media. It is reasonable to conclude that this ongoing public display of fundamentally different views among TB board members will raise significant doubts in the Thunder Bay community. [their] ability to ensure adequate supervision of the CB police service. “
Mercer is full-time president of the Tribunal for the Legal Society and an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. He also worked as a partner with McCarthy Tétrault’s corporate law firm from 1990 to 2019, according to his website.
A spokesman for the Civilian Police Committee said Mercer was not available for an interview at the moment, given the ongoing investigation.
SIU, OPP also investigate TBPS
In addition to the Police Commission’s investigation, which was announced on February 11, the Special Investigations Department (SIU) and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are conducting ongoing investigations into unnamed police officers. In addition, at least 10 current and former TBPS civilian and uniformed officers have filed human rights complaints against police officers.
Most recently, political leaders, representing two-thirds of all Ontario’s top nations, called for the TBPS to be dismantled. The call came after a confidential report leaked to media organizations, including CBC News. He described in detail the serious concerns about TBPS investigations into sudden deaths of almost exclusively indigenous people and recommended that 14 sudden deaths in Thunder Bay be re-investigated.
But Weir’s order to appoint an administrator focused on the rift between former police council chairman Giorgio Morrisso and four other members of the police board.
In January, Morriseau posted a letter on social media saying the police service was “on the verge of collapse from the hands of its board, leadership and administration”.
She has also filed a human rights complaint and three revenge complaints, citing police chief Sylvie Hout and four other members of the police council.
None of the allegations have been verified in court.
In his order, Weir mentioned these details as part of ongoing problems with the police council.
“There are allegations of repression by one member of the TB board against the rest of the TB board, combined with allegations of improper disclosure of confidential information and breaches of conflict of interest by these board members against another member,” Weir said. Mercer’s appointment is needed in the public interest.
Extensive powers conferred on Mercer
Mercer is tasked with restoring proper governance to ensure that [board] provides sufficient oversight of Thunder Bay Police Services and to restore public confidence in Thunder Bay [board and police services’s] ability to provide adequate and effective policing services in the community. “
To do this, Mercer:
- He will chair all regular and special meetings of the board and will have a single vote on all matters on the board.
- He will liaise with OCPC investigators as part of the ongoing investigation.
- There will be unlimited access to all current and past records of the Police Supervisory Board.
- It may make recommendations on the composition of the board, including the power to suspend some or all of its members.
The administrator will also review the implementation of recommendations made in Sinclair’s report, which was released four years ago at the end of the last OCPC investigation on the Thunder Bay Police Board.
Sinclair’s report found that “the board failed to recognize and address the clear and indisputable pattern of violence and systemic racism against Indigenous people in Thunder Bay” and set out 45 recommendations for tackling systemic discrimination.
The report also led to the temporary dissolution of the supervisory board and the controversial one-year appointment of South Ontario-based lawyer Tom Lockwood as administrator.
Lockwood was appointed in December 2018, although the decision was criticized by First Nations leaders, who said he was appointed without consultation.
When Lockwood left the board in June 2020, he expressed confidence that he would follow through on the recommendations and that the chief and deputy chief (who had been removed in recent months) would improve police and indigenous relations.
Mercer is now required to prepare a public report on the status of these same recommendations and to decide “which of the non-implemented recommendations should be implemented as a matter of priority”.
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