Taverner fiasco has implications with First Nations
By installing an unqualified crony as OPP chief, Doug Ford sought a direct line to law enforcement across Ontario. And blurred the line over the conduct or potential misconduct in the premier’s office.
Customized camper “off the books” for his personal use? Not a problem with his pal Ron Taverner as commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police — no questions asked.
But it’s worse than you think. The potential harm goes beyond the hint of impropriety or fear of criminality here and there.
Consider the political neglect, by past premiers and possibly by this premier, of our Indigenous peoples further afield.
If the now-delayed appointment of Taverner ultimately goes through — installing a police chief without the experience, expertise or empathy to face the challenges of our First Nations — the OPP would be set back even further after fumbling and struggling for years to grapple with Indige- nous issues.
What was Ford thinking? Presumably the premier thought he could and would get away with it — until the backlash forced him to back down and Taverner backed away from the job temporarily.
Ford only had second thoughts when word got out that the fix was in, after our top police officers — past and present, OPP and RCMP — called him out on it.
Never mind, for now, the potential misdirection of law enforcement and miscarriage of justice as the premier’s office rammed the appointment through, potentially skewing or shielding him (if not others) from future police probes.
Forget, for a moment, that no one stood up to him in cabinet — not the chief law officer of the Crown, Attorney General Caroline Mulroney; nor the minister of community safety, Sylvia Jones, who supposedly oversees policing; never Greg Rickford, the minister ostensibly responsible for Indigenous affairs.
Spare a thought, instead, for those most affected by Ford’s manipulation of the OPP if his latest gambit works.
Think of our Indigenous peoples.
From Ipperwash to Thunder Bay, the record of our police forces has been politically tainted at best, institutionally racist at worst, and sometimes both. That sordid history keeps repeating itself, and might have been perpetuated in future, had the premier got his way.
At the very time Ford tried to foist Taverner onto Ontario’s biggest police force — North America’s third-largest — Ontarians were learning about the recurring racism (politely and technically described as “systemic racism”) in the Thunder Bay police force in recent years. Why would Ford perpetuate that kind of disconnect by installing as commissioner a crony from Etobicoke with no feel or familiarity for the issue that overlays OPP challenges?
Two separate investigations released last week tell the story of how Indigenous people in Thunder Bay were punished twice by society — first by a lack of dignity in life, then by indignities in death as police failed to do their due diligence. To date, our premier has said little if anything about the monumental challenges facing our First Nations, but his actions speak volumes.
In years past, we might have expected a premier to commiserate over the report to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission from Senator Murray Sinclair, the former judge who headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He found a “clear and indisputable pattern” of violence and systemic racism against Indigenous people in Thunder Bay, recommending the disbanding of the city’s police oversight board over the “emergency” situation (an outside administrator will step in for the next year).
Sinclair’s damning conclusions came just days after another report from the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, “Broken Trust.” It found that “systemic racism exists in Thunder Bay Police Service at an institutional level” after botched probes of Indigenous youth and adults found dead, which it wants reinvestigated.
Imagine a situation where the premier flew to Thunder Bay — the gateway to the North and a destination for Indigenous youth seeking education and opportunities — demanding that the city do better? What if he announced that the OPP, commanded by enlightened new leadership with proven savvy and sensitivity in Indigenous issues, would be available to help, or if necessary take control of policing on an emergency basis?
Did we not learn our lesson, after the Ipperwash inquiry into the police shooting of Indigenous protester Dudley George, of the risk from institutional neglect, not to mention systemic racism, exacerbated by a premier who manipulates policing?
With the tainted appointment process under investigation by the integrity commissioner, top police officers in an uproar, Ford in a funk, and his crony under a cloud, we still don’t know whether the premier will wait it out and try again to impose Taverner upon the OPP. While he leaves us in suspense, the only certainty is that he shows no signs of turning his mind to the bigger challenges facing Indigenous peoples, and policing, in Ontario.