Thunder Bay Police Service, pictured March 11.David Jackson/The Globe and Mail
Three Thunder Bay Police officers are being charged with misconduct under the Police Services Act after a Hamilton police investigation that substantiated allegations of harassment and mobbing a fellow officer.
The charges follow an onslaught of allegations and investigations of the police chief, active and former officers, and the police board.
The officers facing charges include Staff Sergeant Shawn Harrison, who was recently found guilty of misconduct and neglect of duty as the lead investigator in the 2015 sudden death investigation of 41-year-old Anishinaabe man Stacy DeBungee. Staff Sgt. Harrison also serves as the local police association’s vice-president.
The association’s president, Constable Colin Woods, also faces misconduct charges, as does Sergeant Justin Dubuc.
A disciplinary hearing is yet to be scheduled, where the officers will answer for the charges.
Panel on Thunder Bay Police Reform to deliver recommendations by end of summer
The Thunder Bay Police Services Board said in a media release Wednesday it had granted an extension to the time the service had to serve notice of the charges against the officers, which hasn’t happened yet. Under the Police Services Act, a service has six months from the time they become aware of the allegations to serve a notice of hearing to officers charged. The police board can then grant an extension if it chooses.
According to board administrator Malcolm Mercer’s decision to grant the extension, the officers facing charges claim the service was notified of the allegations in August, 2021, when the complainant officer advised the police association that he felt he was being harassed by the officers. Mr. Mercer’s decision said basing those claims on the officer’s feelings falls short of any factual information.
Mr. Mercer said the six-month period began on Nov. 4, 2021, when then-police chief Sylvie Hauth became aware of the alleged harassment by an external investigator working on another case. Chief Hauth then launched a workplace investigation into the allegations.
Mr. Mercer found there was reasonable delay to serving the notice within the six-month time frame as the allegations were being investigated by a third-party workplace investigator. In February, that report substantiated the allegations that each of the officers harassed the complainant, subjected him to workplace mobbing and targeted him through rumours, public discrediting, character assassination and ostracization. The report also revealed Constable Woods tried to interfere with the investigation and did not maintain confidentiality, Mr. Mercer’s decision states.
A month after the workplace investigation findings were released, the board approved the chief’s request to have an outside police service investigate, a delay Mr. Mercer called undesirable but not unreasonable.
Around the same time as the workplace findings in February, the province’s civilian police oversight agency, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, started its own investigation into misconduct against the police chief. The Ontario Provincial Police also opened an investigation into allegations of misconduct against members of the service, although they haven’t identified them, at the request of the Ministry of the Attorney-General after complaints they received from members of the board and service.
By June, 2022, the Hamilton Police Service substantiated the allegations of misconduct against the three officers, prompting the charges.
The Thunder Bay Police Service has been embroiled in controversy for years with a series of investigations and complaints around the conduct of officers and their leaders.
Mr. Mercer was appointed administrator of the board by the province in April for at least six months, prompting the resignation of board chair and city councillor Kristen Oliver and two other members, provincial appointees Roydon Pelletier and Michael Power. City councillor Shelby Ch’ng has since filled the municipal board seat while the two provincial seats remain vacant.
Chief Hauth announced she’d be retiring in June, 2023, this past June, hours before the province announced she was being charged with three counts of misconduct related to a criminal investigation into board member Georjann Morriseau. Chief Hauth has since been suspended. Last fall, Ms. Morriseau filed a human-rights complaint against Chief Hauth and the board, in part for the chief’s handling of Ms. Morriseau’s allegations of a rumoured police leak involving the officer who alleged harassment against his three fellow officers.
The Ontario Provincial Police launched an investigation into members of the service in February, although the OPP haven’t provided specifics of who is being investigated.
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