Thunder Bay police chief says she remains confident in her force after reports outline shortcomings in past investigations

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The Thunder Bay police chief says her service is capable of protecting the community amid calls to dismantle the force in the aftermath of more scathing reports detailing shortcomings in past investigations.

“I can assure you that not only myself but all the service, we do take our work very seriously and we put our best foot forward every day to ensure that our community is safe,” said Sylvie Hauth in an interview with The Globe and Mail Wednesday.

Chief Hauth’s comments were made after two reports obtained by The Globe last week outlined findings of deficient police work in nine death reinvestigations of Indigenous people completed last year. One of the reports, marked confidential, also identified 16 additional cases needing further action or review by police or the coroner, and flagged 25 unsolved missing and murdered Indigenous women cases.

The Ministry of the Attorney-General is now reviewing a request to reinvestigate the 16 newly identified cases.

The report on the nine reinvestigations resulted from a recommendation by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) in a 2018 report called Broken Trust that revealed systemic racism within the service, including bias against Indigenous people by officers who failed to conduct proper investigations.

The nine cases included four from a 2015 coroner’s inquest that reviewed the deaths of seven First Nations students attending high school in the city.

At the same time as the Broken Trust investigation into the service, a probe into the police board was also under way, led by then-senator Murray Sinclair for the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC). Those reports came back with dozens of recommendations for the police service and board, respectively.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum said the service and board should be dismantled and that they’ve had ample opportunity to rebuild trust in the community but have failed to deliver concrete results.

But Chief Hauth said she has always taken the OIPRD recommendations seriously, completing 80 per cent of the 44 recommendations.

“I can appreciate some of the frustrations that you see, but I would also caution on letting the current investigations and the current process take their course and to see things through to the end,” she said.

She said policing has changed since the early 2000s when some of the nine deaths occurred, “not only in terms of adequacy standards, major case management, technology” but also with mandates and legislation.

“What was investigated in 2010 by those standards would not be the same,” said Chief Hauth.

“I think it’s really important to make sure that we keep in perspective what we had in terms of not only technology, but the legislation that was in place at the time and the policies that were in place at the time,” she said. “And that’s dramatically changed, evolved, moving forward.”

She said investigators this time around had access to resources not available a decade ago, like a drone aerial reconstruction of a crime scene or a 3D scanner.

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Chief Hauth is expected to meet with the board on Friday to review the findings, and according to board chair Kristen Oliver, how to ensure the investigative integrity of cases.

Chief Hauth said she will provide an update that shows a complete picture of how her criminal-investigations branch has improved, including an increase in staff, creation of a major crime unit, budget increases for more officers, legislative changes and the impact of the family liaison unit.

She said she is open to the direction of the Attorney-General on the additional cases flagged by Broken Trust investigators, some of them still active with the service.

She also supports the current approach by the board and an expert panel that it established at a special meeting on Wednesday. The panel is made up of “respected leaders in the policing and governance community” to help them review the recommendations from the OIPRD and OCPC reports.

“There’s a lot of work there,” she said.

Chief Hauth, as well as other senior members, and the board are named in nine current human-rights complaints by members of the service and board member Georjann Morriseau, claiming harassment and discrimination.

Chief Hauth and Deputy Chief Ryan Hughes – who was suspended by the board in January over a human-resources matter – are being investigated by the OCPC for misconduct allegations. In addition, the OPP opened a criminal investigation into unnamed members of the service after requests by the province’s Solicitor-General and Attorney-General, respectively.

Ms. Oliver told the board Wednesday that there’s work to be done to shore up public confidence and she had reached out to former Toronto police board chair Alok Mukherjee late last month for advice. She said Mr. Mukherjee made recommendations for the eight-member expert panel, which includes Kimberly Murray, former executive director of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, and Sandy Smallwood, former vice-chair of the Ottawa police board Sandy Smallwood.

Board member Bill Mauro told the board he’s happy to support the panel but was disappointed board members didn’t have any input into who was on it.

Mr. Mukherjee told The Globe in a previous interview that he thinks more time was needed to implement recommendations from Mr. Sinclair’s 2018 report that appointed an external administrator – Toronto-based lawyer Thomas Lockwood – for more than a year.

He said there’s a big gap between making very good recommendations and turning them into action and that while Thunder Bay has had major challenges, its problems aren’t unique.

“There are issues generally around effective governance, and that to me includes much more clarity in the Police Services Act about the role and responsibility of the board,” he said.

Police board secretary John Hannam said in Wednesday’s meeting that he anticipates the work of the experts to take about a year based on the draft prepared by Mr. Mukherjee that includes reviewing policies, procedures, training and practices related to human rights and mental-health issues.

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