THUNDER BAY - After the Office of the Independent Police Review Director released a report six months ago detailing systemic racism at the Thunder Bay Police Service at an institutional level, Chief Sylvie Hauth said the service is making progress on the 44 recommendations handed down, with a particular focus on eight areas, including the reinvestigation into nine deaths.
Hauth provided a six-month update to the Thunder Bay Police Services Board during a meeting held on Tuesday, going over Gerry McNeilly’s 44 recommendations and what work has been done so far.
“I think we are moving at a fairly good pace,” Hauth said. “The recommendations came out in December. I needed the certainty of my budget allocations, which didn’t come until early February. Until I had the money in hand, it’s difficult for certain projects to move ahead.”
There were eight areas in the recommendations identified by the Police Service as part of its request to city council for an additional $1.08 million on top of its $41.8 million operating budget. Council agreed to the additional funds and Hauth said with the money, these eight areas are being pursued more aggressively.
One of the eight areas of focus is the reinvestigation into nine sudden death cases that the OIPRD said lacked quality in the initial investigations.
“It’s very important for us to have a very strong structure in place with the resources we need to be effective in the next steps of the reinvestigation,” Hauth said.
The sudden deaths being reinvestigated include Christine Gliddy, Shania Bob, Marie Spence, Aaron Loon, Sarah Moonias, as well as four cases involved in the Seven Youth Inquest – Jethro Anderson, Curran Strang, Kyle Morrisseau, and Jordan Wabasse.
The process for reinvestigating these cases will involve a three-tiered framework including an executive governance committee comprised of the Thunder Bay Police Service chief, Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the chief coroner, chief forensic pathologist, and a retired judge.
The investigative resource committee will include a coroner, pathologist, Crown attorney, toxicologist, forensic identification officer, Indigenous justice council, and defense counsel and provide expertise to the investigative team.
The final tier, a blended investigative team, will be made up of representation from the Thunder Bay Police Service, NAPS, and “an experienced retired investigator previously of a separate police service.”
Hauth clarified that the members from the Thunder Bay Police Service involved in the investigative team will not have been previously involved in any of the cases being reviewed.
“I think we’ve made some good headway in terms of the reinvestigation framework,” Hauth said. “We are working with a lot of entities and it’s not always easy to get the commitment and the information we need in a timely fashion.”
The names of those who will be involved in the reinvestigations are being confirmed and Hauth said she expects that to be finalized in the next four months. The tentative timeline places the reinvestigations taking place between July and December, with a final report to be completed by June 2020.
Work continuing on other recommendations
Hauth also highlighted progress being made on other recommendations, including work to establish a Major Crimes Unit within the Service.
“We were successful in sending eight cadets to the Ontario Police College this May, which will mean by the fall we will be able to augment our Criminal Investigation Branch and look at the creation of a Major Crime Unit with those additional resources added to that branch,” Hauth said.
The body-worn camera pilot concluded in April and a report is expected to be compiled by July on the outcomes and Hauth hopes the next steps will be obtaining a request for proposal for the project.
Hauth said the work done or started in the last four months is significant, but Thunder Bay Police Services Board chair, Celina Reitberger, was not as positive when it came to the progress being made on the recommendations.
“I have to say I would have hoped we were farther along, but I understand the challenges that are present,” she said. “I would have to say I give them an 85 per cent.”
Reitberger said she would like to see more headway made on recruitment as soon as possible, but she added she is pleased with the framework set out for the reinvestigation into the nine sudden death cases.
“I think it’s going to be tricky, so I do like that a lot of thought has gone into this,” she said. “With the three levels of involvement, I think there will be good checks and balances to make sure nothing was missed.”
Hauth will continue to provide the Police Services Board with updates throughout the year, with a formal update on the progress of the recommendations to be presented in June 2020.
