Alok Mukherjee, left, chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, was one of three people who had signed a column that was to run in the Toronto Star. Mayor John Tory pulled his name at the last minute, and the other signatory, former chief Bill Blair, denies the entire scenario.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
On the eve of a vote for the Toronto Police Services Board's widely unpopular carding policy, Mayor John Tory sided with his police chief and pulled his name from an op-ed that criticized the police service's treatment of "minority concerns" and acknowledged that some officers abuse the practice.
The article was written in support of a compromise version of the carding policy worked out between the board and then-police chief Bill Blair ahead of the board's April vote on the issue – but it maintained a critical tone.
"The proposed policy will not eliminate with one wave of a regulatory hand the problem of officers who stop individuals without adequate reasons, pose inappropriate questions or record information they had no right to obtain," reads a version of the unpublished op-ed obtained by The Globe and Mail.
In retrospect, the withdrawn byline helps illustrate the conflicting positions Mr. Tory has held on carding over two short months – from acquiescing to his police chief to renouncing one of his police force's primary investigative tools. It also testifies to the extreme discord that existed among the powerful triumvirate then holding sway over policing in the City of Toronto."There had been so much bitterness and frustration on this issue," said board chair Alok Mukherjee, who did not provide the article to The Globe. "The whole point of the article was for the three of us to get together and say 'yes, this is a compromise, but it will move us forward.'"
In the lead-up to the vote, both the board and the chief agreed that some pre-emptive damage control would be necessary because the new policy abandoned much of the human-rights language the board had passed the year before – but chief Blair had refused to implement. Under that 2014 policy, residents buttonholed by police would be provided with a receipt and notified of their right to walk away from the interaction.
Such measures appeased some rights groups that had long criticized the practice for unfairly targeting young black men, but alarmed the chief, who felt the policy was impractical and possibly illegal.
A year later, the two sides came up with a mediated compromise that satisfied the chief by eliminating much of that language, while alienating a vast cross-section of Torontonians. The op-ed – intended to run in the Toronto Star under the triple byline of Mr. Blair, Mr. Tory and Mr. Mukherjee – was aimed at placating critics. Mr. Mukherjee's people came up with a first draft. It acknowledged that some officers abuse carding, but ultimately lauded the policy as an important, if flawed, step forward that would pave the way for future reforms.
"If people are suspicious of yet another effort to improve police-community relations," it stated, "it might be because we have historically failed to address minority concerns effectively."
Mr. Tory, through his staff, offered minor revisions, but consented to the article, according to three sources familiar with the negotiation. But when it came to Mr. Blair, the chair waited until deadline before finally receiving a definitive rejection from the chief's office. With Mr. Tory's police chief pulling his byline, the mayor decided to yank his support as well.
The mayor's spokesperson, Amanda Galbraith, said Mr. Tory requested his name be removed from the op-ed only because the original agreement was for all three names to be attached. "It was to be a statement from all three, and that was the condition that the mayor agreed to," she said.
Mr. Blair, now running for the federal Liberals in Scarbourough Southwest, denies the entire scenario. "Bill was never asked, nor did he ever co-author anything with Alok Mukherjee and John Tory," said Blair spokesperson Jill Fairbrother.
The article was never submitted.
Over the ensuing two months, pressure mounted on Mr. Tory and the rest of the board to overhaul the policy yet again. Travelling to Edmonton for a meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities gave Mr. Tory a chance to reflect and gain perspective on the issue, Ms. Galbraith said. While there, he spoke with his mayoral counterparts from Calgary and Vancouver, who gave him advice to "go with his gut" on carding, prompting his surprise renunciation of the practice last Sunday.
For some board members, Mr. Tory's reversal was especially surprising given his behind-the-scenes support of the Blair-endorsed policy.
"He was one of the people saying, 'We have to do this with Bill Blair,'" said Councillor Shelley Carroll.
He wasn't alone, she said, adding that Mr. Mukherjee and board member Andy Pringle were also insistent that the board reach an agreement with then-chief Blair before his contract expired on April 25, and that a "group mentality" emerged in board meetings.
Mr. Tory's new chief, meanwhile, was unswayed by the mayor's change of heart. In a CBC Radio interview on Thursday, Mark Saunders re-emphasized his support for carding, saying, "when it's done right, it is lawful."
Patrick White
Ann Hui