Local group, chief agree with report on oversight

Ottawa’s police chief says he is pleased with recommendations found in a report on police oversight in Ontario.

“I believe in strong oversight. With strong oversight comes confidence in policing. We have been talking about these issues for a lot of years,” said Chief Charles Bordeleau, who is also the president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police.

The long-awaited review, headed by Justice Michael Tulloch, an Ontario Court of Appeal judge, was the product of almost a year spent looking at the three civilian agencies charged with overseeing police in Ontario, including the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which probes situations involving police and civilians that result in serious injury, death or allegations of sexual assault. Tulloch’s 263-page report had 129 recommendations, including legislating when police must call in the SIU and obliging officers to co-operate with the agency.

Following the report’s release on Thursday, the province promised to release past and future SIU reports on fatal interactions between police and members of the public, including releasing, online by December, about 120 reports from the past 10 years on deaths involving police interaction. The remaining reports are to be released by June 2018.

Bordeleau said Tulloch and his team had a tough job to do under a tight deadline, but made time to listen to all the groups and agencies that would be affected.

There was nothing unexpected in the report, he said. “It was clear for police chiefs that there were some significant problems. There have not been any substantial changes in a number of years. This will deal with some of those gaps.”

Meanwhile, a group that has advocated for reforms to police oversight after what witnesses have described as a violent arrest in Ottawa has endorsed the full slate of recommendations in the review. Some other groups have been critical of recommendations about withholding the names of officers who have been cleared by the SIU.

Somali-Canadian Abdirahman Abdi died last July following an arrest outside his apartment building in Hintonburg, sparking tensions between police and the community. Last month, Const. Daniel Montsion was charged with manslaughter in Abdi’s death.

The Justice for Abdirahman Coalition says Tulloch’s report was well-researched and balanced.

“When we met with the justice, releasing the names of offending officers was one of our recommendations, and we did speak at length with the justice on this item,” said coalition co-chair Farhia Ahmed in a statement. “While we do feel strongly that names of offending officers should be made public, we understand the legality around this issue and cause for caution.”

The group is continuing to press for a database about offending officers. Information in the database would not be accessible to the public, but would be available to police oversight bodies.