Missing persons probes scrutinized
Justice Gloria J. Epstein to lead review of police investigations
The Toronto Police Services Board has appointed Justice Gloria J. Epstein to conduct its review into missing persons investigations.
The review was set in motion in March of this year, when the board unanimously approved the commission of an external investigation into how Toronto police probe missing persons cases.
Toronto’s LGBTQ community has expressed its dissatisfaction with the police’s handling of investigations into missing persons.
Bruce McArthur, a 66-year-old landscaper, is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the disappearances of a number of men, most of whom had ties to Toronto’s Gay Village.
Epstein was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 1993, and in 1996 was the judge in M. v. H., the case which found the Ontario Family Law Act definition of spouse was unconstitutional because it discriminated against same-sex couples.
Epstein was appointed in 2007 to the Court of Appeal, from which she is retiring in September before she begins the review.
In April, the police services board struck a committee consisting of Ken Jeffers, a board member; 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.
The committee’s purpose was to make recommendations on the “terms of reference” the independent reviewer will follow — what the review can examine, and how.
Epstein was one of the potential reviewers recommended by the committee.
“Justice Epstein’s groundbreaking contribution to equality in M v. H, her reputation for legal excellence, and diverse lived experience make her an excellent selection as the Reviewer,” Rahim said.
The terms of reference also point to the cases of Alloura Wells and Tess Richey, missing persons investigations that also involved the Church-Wellesley neighbourhood, where some of McArthur’s alleged victims went missing.
The case of Richey led to two Toronto police officers being charged with misconduct for allegedly failing to properly investigate the young woman’s disappearance.
Kalen Schlatter has been charged with murder in Richey’s death.
“I hope that it will lead to systemic change in how missing persons investigations are handled, and answers about what issues existed with respect to the specific missing person investigations of the alleged victims of McArthur, as well as Tess Richey and Alloura Wells,” Rahim said.
The proposed terms of reference recommended that the independent review examine how Toronto police officers investigated the disappearances of the men allegedly murdered by McArthur, but also mandated that the review not prejudice the criminal proceedings against McArthur.