Panel on Thunder Bay Police Reform to deliver recommendations by end of summer

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An expert panel tasked with finding ways of reforming the troubled Thunder Bay Police Service will deliver its interim recommendations by the end of the summer, according to its chair, Alok Mukherjee.

Mr. Mukherjee, who was formerly chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, told reporters the eight-member panel had met with more than 60 people throughout a week of consultations in Thunder Bay, including Indigenous leaders, representatives of local organizations and at least 20 current and former officers. He said the panel has heard a strong desire to rebuild trust in the police force, which has in recent years been rocked by an onslaught of human-rights complaints and allegations of harassment, discrimination, corruption and incompetence – particularly in its dealings with Thunder Bay’s large Indigenous community.

He added that the panel is considering recommending a regional policing model, under which the Thunder Bay service would work alongside the Ontario Provincial Police, First Nations police services, civilian overseers and community groups. The panel will deliver its final recommendations in coming months, he said.

There have been calls from Indigenous leaders to dismantle the service and have the OPP take over. Mr. Mukherjee said the panel would not be including that idea in its report or recommendations.

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“There are financial, human resources and potential community partners who are willing to work with Thunder Bay Police Service to make sure that the system of policing here is part of a network of safety and wellness services that are provided, and that it is not the sole responder to issues,” he said.

The 2016 census found that 12.7 per cent of Thunder Bay’s residents were Indigenous, but Our Health Counts, an independent project by health researchers, has estimated that the true Indigenous population at that time was about three times higher than the government figure. The city serves as a regional hub for dozens of rural and remote Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

The Thunder Bay service and its civilian oversight board have been in turmoil since at least 2018, when two damning reports found systemic racism in the police force and the board. One of the reports, from the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, Ontario’s police oversight agency, included 44 recommendations for change. The other, from former Truth and Reconciliation Commission chair Murray Sinclair, contained 45 additional recommendations, among them that the provincial government appoint an administrator to oversee the police board until its members could be effectively trained.

Around the time of the release of the reports, the Thunder Bay Police Services Board selected its first Indigenous chair, Celina Reitberger, and appointed the service’s first female police chief, Sylvie Hauth.

In 2021, Ms. Reitberger’s successor as chair, another Indigenous woman named Georjann Morriseau, filed the first of several human-rights complaints against the force, in which she claimed police had subjected her to discrimination and harassment in an attempt to cover up a leak of confidential information. In April, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission appointed an administrator, Malcolm Mercer, to oversee the police board, giving him the ability to make decisions unilaterally on the board’s behalf. Three of the board’s five members resigned.

Last month, hours after Chief Hauth announced that she would be retiring from her job in 2023, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission revealed that she will face a hearing over three counts of alleged misconduct related to her handling of the incident that prompted Ms. Morriseau’s complaint. Within days, Mr. Mercer suspended the Chief.

The OPP are actively investigating senior members of the force, but have not publicly revealed the details of the case or the identities of those under investigation.

Mr. Mukherjee said the new policing delivery model could draw on the city’s existing community-based, culturally appropriate services for Indigenous people. He added that the panel heard repeated concerns about inadequate mental health supports, both for officers and for the people they are called to help.

He said the panel plans to request that the Thunder Bay Police Services Board fund a return trip to Thunder Bay for panel members, so they can continue their consultations.

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