No plan for civilian agency to handle police oversight

Bill proposes reform, but minister says independent panel too costly

Saskatchewan’s government has tabled long-awaited legislation to reform police oversight in the province, but it won’t put an end to police investigating police.

The Police Amendment Act, 2020, introduced on Wednesday would widen the authority of the existing Public Complaints Commission (PCC) to oversee investigations of police officers and choose who conducts them.

But the bill would not ensure that a fully independent and civilian-led body does the shoe-leather work of investigating police officers who kill or seriously injure people.

Justice Minister Don Morgan acknowledged that after tabling the bill, which was framed as a first step. But he said the expanded role of the PCC would take “ultimate responsibility” out of the hands of police officers.

“The ultimate responsibility for it will now rest with the PCC, who will be responsible to make sure that the officers are not biased and they’re reporting frequently that they are doing it as they’re required,” said Morgan. “I don’t think it matters who is doing the day-to-day investigation. I think it matters who is responsible for it.”

He said investigators would be “under the direction” of the PCC, which could choose which individual officers to assign to the case.

Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia have all put investigations of serious incidents involving police into the hands of a civilian-led agency, while Quebec uses a specialized independent police body.

Morgan said the government did not opt for such a model in part due to its cost. The 2020-21 budget is contributing $350,000 to the PCC to hire staff to support its expanded role.

“We think that a province the size of ours, and the number of police forces we have, to try to have a model like they do in Ontario or Alberta is expensive,” Morgan continued.

“It becomes a matter of creating another police force, so it’s police investigating police at a different level.”

But the mother of Jordan Lafond, who died while a passenger during a police chase in Saskatoon in 2016, said she is not comfortable with police being involved in investigations.

“I’m not comfortable with that at all,” Charmaine Dreaver said. “I think it has to be a completely different body.”

Dreaver has a petition calling for changes to the Police Act to create a civilian oversight body. She is planning a rally at Saskatoon City Hall for Saturday.

In Saskatchewan, cases like Lafond’s are generally investigated by outside police forces. But sometimes they are handled by the very police service whose officers are under investigation.

Regina police are investigating the death of Geoff Morris, who was shot and killed by a Regina police officer in early May.

Under the current system, the Ministry of Justice appoints an independent observer to oversee police investigations of police. For the Morris investigation, the observer is a former member of the RCMP.

The bill introduced on Wednesday would take that appointment out of the hands of the deputy minister of justice and transfer it to the PCC, which will publish online summaries of the resulting reports. The observer can now be a civilian, rather than a current or former police officer.

Morgan acknowledged the PCC could choose to assign a case to the same police service involved in the killing or injury, though he said that would not be “best practice.”

“I would have real difficulty if they chose to assign it back to that the same police force,” he said.

In cases where the victim is of First Nations or Métis ancestry, a second observer of Indigenous identity would also be appointed. That was one element of Wednesday’s bill that Dreaver supported.

“We need to be felt and heard, right,” she said. “So, I’m all for that.”

The bill would also expand the PCC’S role to cover sexual assaults and off-duty incidents involving police officers. The commission would also get new responsibilities to look into complaints of harassment within police services.

The Opposition NDP called Morgan’s “first step” toward accountability a “half measure.”

“There are still instances where police will be investigating police, and that’s just not acceptable in 2020,” said NDP justice critic Nicole Sarauer. “It’s clear what the public has been calling for, for a while now, particularly highlighted right now in this day and age, and nothing less than a complete, independent civilian oversight will be acceptable,” she added.

Christine Tell, Saskatchewan’s minister of corrections and policing, said she is comfortable with the idea of police maintaining a role. A former police officer, she said she was investigated numerous times and always found other police officers fair. “When there’s allegations of certain types of behaviour by police, I’ve never seen it brushed under the carpet,” she said. “In fact, sometimes I think I was treated worse.”

With files from Thia James awhite-crummey@postmedia.com