High-level departures have hobbled Ottawa police service, board

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Weeks after the end of a lengthy protest against pandemic restrictions, the turbulence in Ottawa continues at city hall, where both the police service and its oversight board remain hobbled by high-level departures.

In the past three weeks, the city has lost its police chief and all of its civilian police services board members.

Today, only three of the required seven members have been replaced, leaving the board without quorum as the police service, now under an interim chief, begins its recovery.

The overhaul has fuelled allegations of political interference in the police board’s work, and has raised questions about the efficacy of the independent police governance model.

Diane Deans, the Ottawa city councillor who was unseated as board chair in a 15-9 vote by city council on Feb. 16, said that when the police response to the protests is eventually probed, the behind-the-scenes politics of the board and council must also be reviewed.

“I believe there should be a judicial inquiry, and that people should be under oath when they speak. I think that’s how we really get to the bottom of it,” Ms. Deans said.

“I think there were failures at all three levels of government. But some of the issues that have really had a spotlight shone on them, as a result of the freedom convoy occupation of the city of Ottawa, are around police governance.”

The governance crisis began in earnest on Feb. 15, when Peter Sloly resigned as Ottawa’s police chief in response to mounting frustration over the force’s failure to respond to the protest. A convoy of trucks had been blocking streets near Parliament for more than two weeks, allowing a group of anti-pandemic-restriction demonstrators to disrupt the normal flow of traffic and business in the city centre.

The next day, Ms. Deans said, she was summoned to Mayor Jim Watson’s office, where his chief of staff asked her to resign from her position as police board chair. She refused. (Mr. Watson did not respond to an interview request.)

In the end, Ms. Deans didn’t have a choice. That evening, city council voted to unseat her.

“What’s happening tonight – this motion that we’re debating tonight – is political. It is a power grab by this mayor,” Councillor Catherine McKenney said during the debate.

Councillor Scott Moffatt, who tabled the motion to remove Ms. Deans, disputed the idea that it was a political hit, even if the mayor’s office was engaged in its development.

He said in an interview that there were several reasons for taking Ms. Deans off the board, but that the catalyst was the board’s request for Mr. Sloly’s resignation, and its decision to bring in an external candidate as interim chief – former Waterloo Police chief Matt Torigian.

“They went and they changed the leadership at the Ottawa Police Service. And I think that was premature,” Mr. Moffatt said. “Why did you need to get rid of Chief Sloly? And why did you need to proceed to hire outside officers to come in and be interim chief?”

After Ms. Deans’s ouster, the offer to Mr. Torigian was revoked, and Ottawa’s own deputy chief, Steve Bell, was promoted to interim chief.

The police board has seats for three city councillors, three provincial appointees and one community representative appointed by city council. Ms. Deans’ removal prompted the other two city councillors on the board, Rawlson King and Carol Anne Meehan, to resign in protest.

“This incident has really brought this challenge around police governance to the surface,” Mr. King told city council. “Since the mayor has a different vision of police governance in this city, I will be tendering my resignation forthwith.”

Ms. Meehan told council that removing Ms. Deans was a “cheap political stunt.”

Sandy Smallwood, the board’s community representative, also resigned that day. He said his breaking point came even before the vote on Ms. Deans. He had read remarks in the media by a city councillor who accused the police board of “bashing” Mr. Sloly at a meeting. At that point, Mr. Smallwood said, he felt the independence of the board – and its ability to robustly question the police – was in question.

“I think everybody should question the entire model of police governance,” Mr. Smallwood said. “This reeks of political interference.”

On March 2, the provincial government announced the resignations of all three of its appointees, leaving the police board with none of its original members.

Allegations had surfaced in local media that one of the provincial appointees – Robert Swaita, a local business owner – had participated in the protests, donated food to protesters and not disclosed any of this to the police board, even while he sat in on confidential briefings on the protest response. The Globe was unable to reach him for comment, but he has told other media outlets that he denies the allegations.

The province declined to offer details of his resignation or those of his fellow provincial appointees, Daljit Nirman and Bev Johnson.

“We have been working with the City of Ottawa to support a governance transition of the Ottawa Police Services Board,” Hannah Jensen, a spokesperson for the Ontario Solicitor General, said in an e-mail. “It is important that the people of Ottawa have confidence in their police governance, and this will bring fresh perspectives as the Board addresses recent events.”

News on replacements will be announced “in the coming days,” Ms. Jensen said.

Now, as the board undertakes one of its most important responsibilities – hiring a new chief – it must first rebuild its own ranks. It needs at least four members for quorum.

Ottawa city council has appointed two new councillors to the board: Jeff Leiper and Eli El-Chantiry, who is now the chair, a role he held previously for 12 years until 2018. Council has also appointed Suzanne Valiquet, a local resident with past police board experience, to replace Mr. Smallwood. The board still has one more council seat to fill, plus all three provincial appointee seats.

“This is their challenge. They’ve got to build their boat and they’re sailing at the same time,” said Fred Kaustinen, who is chief governance officer at the Halton Police Board and the principal at Governedge Inc., a governance and risk consulting firm.

Mr. Kaustinen noted that Ottawa’s challenges are not unique to that city. Across the country, he said, police boards have grappled with “a lack of clarity on the roles and responsibilities, and a lack of investment in the training and independent support of boards.”

The overhaul of the Ottawa police board has also raised broader questions about political impartiality in police governance, which is a tenet of Ontario’s Police Services Act.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” said Brian Thiessen, former chair of the Calgary Police Commission. “If you’re supposed to have independent civilian oversight over the police, and then the council steps in and removes the board and appoints new ones – then the question is, are they really independent?”

On the issue of the board’s choice of interim chief, Mr. Thiessen questioned council’s swift response.

“There’s always a tension between internal and external [hiring], but I think the point here is that that’s not council’s decision – like, it’s specifically not their decision,” he said. “It’s the board’s.”

The typical course of action for a council unhappy with police oversight, he said, would be for them not to reappoint board members next term.

Mr. Moffatt said the crisis was such that councillors needed to act.

“They were within their rights to do what they did,” he said. “My response is we’re also within our rights as council to say who is chair of the Police Services Board, or to say who is on the Police Services Board.”

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