Police board strikes review committee
Independent panel will examine TPS handling of missing persons cases
The Toronto Police Services Board has struck a small committee with the tall order of examining how missing persons cases are probed by its officers — an independent review commissioned in the wake of the ongoing investigation into alleged serial murderer Bruce McArthur. At a meeting at police headquarters Wednesday, the civilian board approved the members of the committee, which will propose what issues a review should examine related to Toronto police practices and conduct when it comes to missing persons investigations.
Police board member Ken Jeffers will sit on the committee alongside Sara Mainville, a lawyer; Monica Forrester, the engagement co-ordinator for Maggie’s Toronto Sex Workers Action Project; and Shakir Rahim, a board member with the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP).
“This, I think, is a very important first step in addressing something that has been searing in terms of its impact on the entire community, for obvious reasons,” Mayor John Tory told the board.
The review was pushed for by community advocates and brought forward last month by Tory. It comes after mounting concerns in recent months about police handling of missing persons cases, including those involving men now alleged to be victims of McArthur.
Due to the ongoing investigation and pending trial, the review will not specifically look at police conduct related to McArthur. Instead, it will examine broader issues surrounding how police conduct missing persons probes. That includes an examination of the impact of implicit bias, including around race or sexual orientation, might have on how officers investigate missing persons cases.
“Given the link between recent missing person cases and the LGBTQ2S+ South Asian and Middle Eastern communities, it is important that the voices of our communities are strongly heard,” Rahim said in an email Wednesday.
Since the external review was commissioned in March, Toronto police have laid two more first-degree murder charges against McArthur. The 66-yearold landscaper is now charged in the deaths of eight men in killings police allege took place between 2010 and 2017.
Just last week, police charged McArthur in the death of Abdulbasir Faizi, 42, who they al- lege was killed by McArthur in December 2010. Faizi had been one of three men whose disappearances between 2010 and 2012 were probed by a special Toronto police initiative called Project Houston, alongside two other men now alleged to have been killed by McArthur: Majeed Kayhan, 58, and Skandaraj “Skanda” Navaratnam, 40.
Project Houston ran for 18 months but closed in 2014 after police found “no evidence to suggest criminal activity.” With McArthur now charged in the deaths of all three men, questions have arisen about whether any red flags were missed.
Rahim has said that while he appreciates that the external review cannot directly examine the McArthur investigation, it could assess whether the community was effectively consulted during Project Houston.
The board also retained Toronto lawyer Breese Davies to act as the working group facilitator, who will, among other tasks, draft the proposed terms of reference for the external review.
“This, I think, is a very important first step in addressing something that has been searing in terms of its impact on the entire community.” MAYOR JOHN TORY