Thunder Bay police chief ’s charges tied to mayor

Thunder Bay’s police chief is facing charges that allegedly stem from an incident that happened last December concerning that city’s Mayor Keith Hobbs.

Court documents indicate Thunder Bay police Chief Jean-Paul Levesque, from Dec. 14, 2016 to Dec. 22, 2016, “did willfully attempt to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice by disclosing confidential information concerning Keith Hobbs.”

And further to that, it says that between Dec.14, 2016 and Dec. 22, 2016, Levesque “did commit a breach of trust in connection with the duties of his office by disclosing confidential information concerning Keith Hobbs.” Levesque is currently on medical leave and Thunder Bay Police Services would not comment on the charges, which were laid by the Ontario Provincial Police after a fivemonth investigation into “allegations of criminal wrongdoing,” the OPP said on Tuesday. The RCMP asked the OPP to conduct an “external, independent and thorough” investigation by the OPP’s Criminal Investigation Branch. Levesque is scheduled to appear in a Thunder Bay court on June 13.

The charges against the chief of police come at a time of heightened tensions in Thunder Bay between the First Nations community and the police service.

The Thunder Bay police is currently being investigated by the Office of the Independent Police Review Directorate, a provincial watchdog that operates at arms length from the ministry of the attorney general, for allegations of “systemic racism” when dealing with all cases of murdered and missing indigenous people. The review began last November after a complaint from the Rainy River First Nation and the family of Stacey DeBungee, 41, whose body was found in a river. With files from Jackie Hong