Opposition slams premier over lack of transparency in Loku shooting
Wynne vows public will be consulted on police oversight and how future reports should be released
Premier Kathleen Wynne insists she is working “towards how to make the information in the SIU report public” as controversy swirls around the decision made after the death of Andrew Loku.
But Wynne does not want the release of the secret Special Investigations Unit (SIU) probe, which recommended that no charges be laid against the unnamed officer who shot Loku, to be a one-off.
Senior officials say the premier would like to see changes in how such reports are handled in future, while ensuring the privacy of people involved is protected.
That doesn’t mean the Loku report won’t be released — nor does it mean it will be made public soon. Sources say justice officials are grappling with the issue of setting a new precedent about such reports, which have been kept secret for a quarter-century.
As revealed by the Star this week, Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur said Monday she had not yet read the secret SIU report recommending no charges be laid in the Loku shooting, despite receiving it a month earlier.
After every probe by the SIU — which investigates deaths, serious injuries and allegations of sexual assault involving Ontario police — the agency’s director produces a report detailing the decision to lay a charge or clear an officer. That report goes directly to the attorney general and no one else.
The director’s report is considered by the attorney general and the SIU to be confidential, with both claiming Ontario’s privacy legislation prohibits the release of some details contained in it, including personal information of everyone involved in an investigation.
But Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner says there may be circumstances of “significant public interest” where the SIU may disclose the name or other information associated with completed investigations.
Wynne came under fire in the legislature from New Democrat MPP Jagmeet Singh (Bramalea- Gore-Malton) during Wednesday’s question period.
“For the sake of the public’s confidence in Ontario’s oversight of the police, it’s essential that the details around the SIU’s investigation and their handling of the evidence be made public,” said Singh.
The premier countered that she is well aware of the maelstrom surrounding the killing.
“It was I and my ministers who went to the front lawn and had the conversation with the Black Lives Matter protesters. We had the conversation. I acknowledge that, in our society, we are still grappling with systemic racism,” she said.
Wynne emphasized there will be public consultations about police oversight in Ontario, and those will include discussions about how the information in the SIU reports should be made public. The attorney general will appoint someone “as soon as possible” to conduct a review of the SIU and other police oversight agencies, the premier said.
Outside the legislature, Meilleur, who has now read the secret report, acknowledged that “we’re listening to the public, who want more transparency and more accountability.
“If you don’t issue anything to the public, then there’s questions (from) the public about what’s there that they don’t want us to see,” said Meilleur. “So I’ve been listening, but like I have said, there has never been any (SIU) report that was released, so let’s look for the future.”
The revelation that Meilleur had not read the report despite weeks of heated protest surrounding Loku’s death led to a call from the Black Action Defence Committee Tuesday for Wynne to fire Meilleur.
The committee also wants the report on Loku’s death released immediately.
Kiden Jonathan, a good friend of Loku who was with him in the hours before his death, told the Star on Wednesday that she is alarmed and saddened that more information has not been released to explain how her friend died, and why police were cleared.
“They just said, ‘We’re not going to charge the officer,’ but what really happened? We don’t really know yet,” she said. “If the information is released, then we can know, clearly, how things happened, and then there can be accountability as well.”
Loku was killed by an unnamed Toronto police officer in July 2015. Last month, the SIU ruled the officer was justified in the killing, to prevent an “imminent” hammer attack.
That decision helped spark a twoweek protest by Black Lives Matter outside Toronto police headquarters, which called for the release of the name of the officer who killed Loku and demanded an inquest.
Meilleur said she was hopeful some information could come out at the coroner’s inquest, which was called last week in part because of the public outcry over the SIU’s decision.
“I believe that they will have some of their answers there,” Meilleur said.
No date has been set.