Oversight reforms panned for falling short

Police oversight reforms don’t go far enough to ensure accountability in Saskatchewan, according to the chair of the body that will be tasked with implementing them.

Senator Brent Cotter, who remains chair of the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) until a replacement is found, is still calling for a civilian led agency to take over the day-to-day work of investigating police officers who seriously injure or kill people.

“The minister is not establishing a serious incident review team that is an independent agency to conduct and essentially direct investigations of serious incidents involving police behaviour,” said Cotter. “That, I think, continues to be a concern.”

He said Saskatchewan remains an “outlier,” even with reforms tabled on Wednesday that Justice Minister Don Morgan called a first step toward improved accountability. They keep the shoe-leather work of investigating serious incidents involving police in the hands of police services, but give an expanded oversight role to the PCC Cotter leads.

Cotter said the model used in all provinces except Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island would cost only about $1 million to implement.

“At this particular moment in time, when public confidence in the police is strained, I think, and the quality and depth of accountability is being called into question ... probably a milliondollar-a-year project would go a long way in building that confidence,” he said.

“We’re not there yet.”

Morgan argued that the reforms he introduced on Wednesday put investigations “under the direction” of the PCC. He said the PCC would have control over operational details of investigations it assigns to police services, including choosing the officers who investigate the case.

Cotter said that is not his understanding of how the system would work. He said the PCC would appoint an observer who would then report on whether the investigation had been conducted. The PCC would receive that report and publish a summary of it.

“It’s a small step toward independence in removing it from the operations of the justice ministry and minister and I think that’s laudable,” said Cotter. “But it is not the enriched initiative that exists in most of the other jurisdictions, where the investigation itself is conducted by an agency that is independent of the police.”

He said the “optical challenges” of police investigating police will remain.

Morgan stood by his characterization of the extent of PCC control over investigations on Thursday. He said his reforms take responsibility out of his ministry and allow the PCC to “determine what operational control they need.”

“Presumably, they’ll work together with the police force where the incident happened and whoever they ask to bring in,” said Morgan. “But it’s their role and their responsibility to do that. They’re the ones who are responsible for the process.”

The government is also granting additional funding to the overburdened PCC, which is responsible for receiving a wide range of other complaints and has had to turn some back to police services due to staffing shortages.

Cotter called the additional $350,000 on offer for 2020-21 a “meaningful increase,” saying it should be sufficient to handle business under the “status quo.”

But the reforms tabled on Wednesday will be expanding PCC responsibility to include internal harassment complaints, as well as off-duty issues and sexual assaults involving police.

Cotter said it remains to be seen whether the funding available will be enough for the PCC to keep up with that expanded role.

“Will the resources be enough to do all of this? Time will tell.”