Greens raise accountability
Questions directed at justice minister focus on privacy concerns, review of 2018 fatal shooting
Opposition Leader Peter Bevan-Baker recently asked about the accountability of police departments in P.E.I. given events throughout Canadian and U.S. cities this spring.
During question period, Bevan-Baker referred to the ongoing protests related to police brutality.
"While it's convenient to think that these kinds of incidents are unique to the United States, the reality is that Canada, of course, has its own dark record of racism and discrimination," he said.
"But this is also, in part, a story about the breakdown of trust between the police services and the citizens being served."
There are several different municipal and regional police organizations on P.E.I. Bevan-Baker asked what role Justice and Public Safety Minister Bloyce Thompson is taking in ensuring accountability in municipal police forces and the RCMP.
"As we meet with the police chiefs on a regular basis to discuss issues, diversity is always important to our Island and to our public safety correspondence,” Thompson responded.
Bevan-Baker then raised recent privacy concerns related to recent acquisitions of surveillance cameras, license ID cameras and drones by the Charlottetown Police Services.
"What is the province's role in overseeing the proper privacy review and (that) policing best practices are being followed by our municipal policing services?" BevanBaker asked.
Thompson raised a police review conducted in 2016.
He said 13 out of 17 recommendations have been “mostly complete or complete”.
"We've brought together all the players that can respond, from the police chiefs to conservation officers to first responders. They're all at the table," Thompson said.
The justice minister said he would bring some of the concerns to these people.
Bevan-Baker then brought up the 2018 death of Jeremy Stephens, who was shot by Summerside Police Services' officers.
A review of the shooting of the 32-year old man found that Stephens had been chased into a home by police following a suspected robbery.
After Stephens allegedly threatened officers with a piece of a wooden chair and a golf club, he was shot nine times, the review found. It also said the officers had the right to use lethal force in this instance.
"In no way do we want to suggest that the review was not thorough or accurate.
Indeed, it was,” Bevan-Baker said.
"However, the review was not transparent. The family has repeatedly asked for a coroner's inquest into the incident, and the province has repeatedly said no."
"It was reviewed by an independent body that our department feels did an appropriate job. And we were satisfied by the results," Thompson said.
"It was an unfortunate incident, and we can't say any differently."
The review of the police shooting by the Nova Scotia Special Incident Response Team was completed in March 2019.