Hamilton police board turning into rubber stamp
A few weeks ago, the non-profit Freedom House released its yearly report on the state of democracy, political rights and civil liberties around the world. As expected, threats to freedom dramatically increased in 2023, marking the 18th straight year of declining liberty on a global scale.
While we think of democratic decline as something happening in places like Russia, El Salvador and India, Canada has also begun to slip. Even though Canada regularly ranks near the top of the list of the most free and democratic countries, we fell one full point in 2023, losing marks on the question, “does the government operate with openness and transparency?”
The ongoing saga of the Hamilton Police Services Board (HPSB) is an excellent example of the concerning decline of governmental openness and transparency in Canada.
The HPSB is a body designed to provide citizen oversight of the Hamilton Police Service, which is the municipality’s single largest expense, employing hundreds of sworn officers and civilian employees. We, as the residents who fund the force, deserve some say in how the police operate.
The HPSB provides a venue where citizens can help set policies, work with the chief of police on issues of concern and allow representatives of the people a chance to ask the police tough questions.
Rather than serve this function, today’s HPSB is a body mired in petty factionalism and hampered by procedural shenanigans.
The most recent example of this came on March 11, when Ward 2 Coun. and board member Cameron Kroetsch announced that the Ontario Civilian Police Commission would investigate a complaint launched against him by HPSB chair Pat Mandy. Among the alleged issues in the complaint are Kroetsch’s public comments and council motions relating to the board’s budgetary process.
That kind of dissent is unacceptable to the board’s majority block. Three of the board’s members — provincial appointees Fred Bennink and Geordie Elms, as well as Ward 7 Coun. Esther Pauls — were previous Progressive Conservative candidates. Together with Mandy, this block acts in lockstep, always voting together and rarely offering substantive criticism of the force.
Kroetsch and citizen appointee Dr. Anjali Menezes are the only board members willing to ask tough questions, but the board majority rarely allows them a chance to participate meaningfully.
At the board’s December meeting, for example, Mandy used her position as chair to prevent Menezes from asking questions about police interactions with marginalized communities and misused procedure to prevent Kroetsch from speaking, even saying she was doing so because the councillor looked like he was “going to complain.” Mandy followed this at the board’s January meeting by using privileges afforded the chair to publicly attack Kroetsch and then try to deny him a chance to respond.
The complaint against Kroetsch is just the latest example of creeping authoritarianism on the HPSB. Taking issue with Kroetsch’s motion to have the HPSB take a more nuanced and careful look at Chief Frank Bergen’s budget request, Mandy’s complaint amounts to a formal reprimand for the unforgivable act of asking questions.
As Kroetsch has pointed out, this complaint is glaringly biased, as it seeks to punish him for the same actions taken by Mayor Andrea Horwath, who also sits on the board.
Through this entire saga, Horwath has shown an upsetting political ambiguity when it comes to the HPSB. Only when the board blatantly silences Kroetsch and Menezes does the mayor speak up and provide leadership. But these meagre protests are undercut for her continued support for Mandy as board chair.
The HPSB is intended to provide citizen oversight of the Hamilton Police Service. It is, instead, an increasingly authoritarian body full of partisan appointees, rife with dysfunction, that provides nothing more than a rubber stamp for police requests. Hamiltonians deserve better than that. We deserve a HPSB that is accountable, transparent and democratic.
It is clear we will only get that if there is a change in leadership on the board.