More oversight for Ontario police
New act allows suspension of officers without pay
TORONTO — Sweeping changes to Ontario’s policing laws were introduced Thursday, including strengthening oversight, making it possible to suspend officers without pay and redefining police duties.
The new rules, contained in a massive piece of legislation years in the making, would include the first update to the province’s Police Services Act in more than 25 years.
“The issues faced by police services and their members today are far more complex than when the act was developed,” said Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Marie-France Lalonde.
Many of the policing updates stem from Appeal Court Justice Michael Tulloch’s report on police oversight released earlier this year.
Changes include requiring the Special Investigations Unit, one of the province’s police oversight agencies, to report publicly on all of its investigations and release the names of officers charged.
Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said he has “deep respect and appreciation” for the more than 26,000 police officers in Ontario who risk their lives to keep people safe, but it’s also important to establish checks and balances.
“We have all heard the growing concerns that some communities, in particular black and Indigenous communities, feel unjustly harmed at the hands of police,” he said. “We have witnessed such tensions across North America and we have learned that Ontario is not immune.”
The new legislation is welcome news for Hamilton police, said Deputy Chief Dan Kinsella.
The service has a long history of ad-
vocating for changes, in particular for the power to suspend without pay.
Former Hamilton police chief Glenn De Caire submitted his own “white paper” to the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) calling for chiefs to have the power to suspend without pay if an officer is facing serious charges.
Ontario is the only province in which chiefs can’t revoke the pay of suspended officers, who collect millions of dollars each year. Right now, suspended officers have to be paid even when convicted of an offence, unless they are sentenced to prison.
The new legislation proposes to allow suspensions without pay when an officer is in custody or when they are charged with a serious federal offence that wasn’t allegedly committed in the course of their duties.
There have been a number of cases of suspended Hamilton officers held up as examples for changing the legislation. Most infamously is the former inspector David Doel, whose disciplinary case dragged out for four years while he continued to collect more than $550,000 in salary. He retired before the resolution of his 13 Police Services Act charges, which stemmed from allegations he had an affair with a civilian police employee and then stalked and harassed her.
At its height, during De Caire’s leadership there were a dozen suspended officers. Now there are three suspended officers.
Const. Craig Ruthowsky, a former gangs and weapons enforcement unit officer has been suspended with pay since 2012. He faces numerous criminal charges related to allegations he helped a drug trafficking organization. His trial on some of those charges is set to begin Feb. 20.
Const. Staci Tyldesley is a former ACTION unit officer who was among a group suspended and charged in 2015 over allegations they falsified tickets. The four other officers were found not guilty and are back at work. Tyldesley elected to be tried separately in Superior Court. Her trial begins Nov. 20.
Const. Paul Manning has been suspended since March 3, 2015. However, he is on medical leave for mental health and is paid through WSIB disability benefits. He had criminal charges for allegedly sending a threatening email withdrawn in exchange for a peace bond and five-year firearm ban in 2015. He has accused the police service of betraying him in a lawsuit.
Kinsella said Hamilton will review cases on an individual basis when the new legislation is passed. The status of the suspended officers “will not change at this time,” he said.
Hamilton Police Association president Clint Twolan said he had not yet had a chance to read the proposed legislation, so he couldn’t comment on details. But generally, he said the union representing officers understands there are certain circumstances where, for public confidence, suspensions without pay make senses.
But Twolan cautioned there needs to be a way for officers to appeal and points out most suspended officers do not end up being fired.
The new legislation includes a proposed disciplinary tribunal where officers could turn to fight suspensions. This tribunal would make the final decision. If officers are ultimately found not guilty of the charges they faced, they would be reimbursed for the lost pay, Lalonde said.
An inspector general would be established to oversee police services, with the power to investigate and audit them, and Ontario’s ombudsman would be able to investigate complaints against the police oversight bodies.
The three police oversight agencies that already exist in Ontario — the SIU, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) — would get expanded mandates.
The OIPRD will be renamed the Ontario Policing Complaints Agency and would investigate all public complaints against police officers. The OCPC would be renamed the Ontario Policing Discipline Tribunal, dedicated solely to adjudicating police disciplinary matters, so that isn’t done by the police services themselves.
As well, the SIU would have to be called when an officer fires at a person and would be able to file more charges on its own. It currently only investigates police-involved death, serious injury and sexual assault allegations.
Twolan said he was concerned about broadening the mandate of oversight bodies, including the SIU, which he accused of already overstepping and often taking too long to complete investigations.
He believes there should be better oversight of those bodies beyond the ombudsman.
Local police boards would also be created for the Ontario Provincial Police, similar to the structure of municipal police services boards — which will be required to undergo more training, such as on diversity. The new act would also allow First Nations police forces to establish police services boards.
An amended Coroners Act would require coroner’s inquests when police kill through use of force, another one of Tulloch’s key recommendations.
The government’s stated approach is to share the burden of community safety with municipalities. They will be required to implement community safety plans, such as identifying a need for more addiction and mental health programs, aiming to prevent problems before police get involved.
The new act will also for the first time clearly define police responsibilities as those that can only be performed by an officer. That will be worked out in regulations, but Lalonde said, for example, sworn constables may not be the best people to monitor construction sites.
The new Police Services Act and the other new and updated acts are being bundled together as the Safer Ontario Act.