Ex-police chief arrested in misconduct investigation
A former Thunder Bay police chief has been arrested and charged as part of an ongoing misconduct investigation, Ontario Provincial Police said Friday.
OPP said they arrested Sylvie Hauth, 57, and charged her with two counts of obstructing justice, one count of breach of trust and one obstruction count. She was then released, police said. She is set to appear in court on May 7.
Shortly after the charges were announced, Hauth’s lawyer, Scott Hutchison, said the former police chief “is confident she will prevail.”
Hauth became the third — and most high profile — arrest in the OPP’s investigation.
Holly Walbourne, the former inhouse lawyer for the police service, was charged earlier this week with similar offences. In December, police arrested officer Michael Dimini and charged him with two counts of assault, breach of trust and obstruction of justice.
The charges come after Ontario’s attorney general asked the OPP in late 2021 to look into allegations of misconduct by members of the Thunder Bay police force.
In court documents filed Friday, police allege Hauth and Walbourne obstructed the Thunder Bay Police Services Board between Oct. 8, 2021,and Oct 19, 2021 by “practicing deception, including the making of false statements.”
Police also allege the two made false and misleading comments to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, the documents show.
Hauth took over the force in late 2018 in the shadow of two scathing oversight reports detailing how racist attitudes and stereotyping had tainted investigations into the deaths of Indigenous people. Nine of those deaths were reinvestigated because of how poorly they were initially handed.
The OPP investigation was launched around the same time as an investigation by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission into allegations of misconduct by senior police members, also initiated at the request of the province.
The commission would eventually bring charges against Hauth under the Police Services Act, but she resigned before she could go before a public tribunal.
None of the allegations have been tested in court.