The deputy chief of the Thunder Bay Police Service will be back at his job next week, just over a year after he was suspended in the midst of investigations and complaints that have engulfed the force for two years.
In a statement Friday, the Thunder Bay Police Service Board said it has rescinded the suspension of the deputy chief, Ryan Hughes, after reviewing the results of a “thorough investigation of a complaint regarding internal service matters.”
The force has not revealed the substance of the accusations that led to Deputy Chief Hughes’s suspension. The statement says only that the investigation substantiated two allegations against him, both related to “breaches of the requirement for confidentiality arising from the improper disclosure of police information” to senior Thunder Bay officers, and to an “external peer deputy chief of police.”
The statement adds that the board has “taken appropriate corrective action.” And it says Deputy Chief Hughes has accepted the board’s review of the findings and an informal resolution. He will return to active service on Monday, the statement says.
Board spokesperson Sarah Tratt said the board wouldn’t comment further.
Deputy Chief Hughes was suspended by the board in January, 2022, over what the force described at the time as a human resources matter. The board handed the investigation to the Toronto Police Service.
At the time, Thunder Bay’s police force was in turmoil. Chief Sylvie Hauth announced her retirement in June, the same day she was charged under the Police Services Act with discreditable conduct and deceit, following an investigation by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission. The board suspended her from her job, and she officially resigned in January.
The OCPC was probing allegations that Ms. Hauth had lied to the board about an improper investigation into board member Georjann Morriseau. Deputy Chief Hughes was cleared of allegations related to the police chief’s alleged misconduct. The allegations that led to his suspension were separate.
Ms. Hauth and Deputy Chief Hughes were also named in several human rights complaints filed by Ms. Morriseau, and they have faced harassment and discrimination allegations from current and former officers.
Last year, Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General and the province’s Solicitor-General asked the Ontario Provincial Police to open a criminal investigation into unidentified senior members of the Thunder Bay force.
As the force prepares to name Ms. Hauth’s permanent replacement as chief, it remains under intense scrutiny for its troubled relationship with Indigenous people in the city. Independent reports in 2018 revealed ingrained systemic racism within the service and board, and later reports outlined how dozens of investigations into the deaths of Indigenous people were deeply flawed and required reinvestigation.
An interim report by an expert panel, hired by the board last year before the province appointed an administrator to oversee the force, says increased Indigenous representation on the board, and increased oversight through governance and hiring committees, is necessary for meaningful change. Denise Baxter and Karen Machado, both Indigenous women, are the most recent municipal and provincial appointees to the board.
First Nations leaders called last year for the dismantling of the service, after years of frustration with the mounting pile of reports, which they said had resulted in little to no reform.
Willow Fiddler