Who is on the Ottawa Police Services Board and what are its responsibilities?

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Ottawa’s new police chief will be Eric Stubbs, an assistant commissioner with the RCMP in British Columbia. Stubbs used to live in Ottawa and has experience as the criminal operations officer for the B.C. RCMP, where 125 detachments reported to him.

Two leading mayoral candidates, Catherine McKenney and Mark Sutcliffe, have said they will work with Stubbs but they disagree on whether the Ottawa Police Services Board — which is responsible for hiring the chief — should have waited until after the municipal election to proceed with the hiring process. (McKenney and fellow candidate Bob Chiarelli were against it, while Sutcliffe indicated he was fine with the process.)

Board chair Eli El-Chantiry has insisted that this iteration of the board, which has been in place since the spring, is not a “lame duck” and had committed to hiring a chief before the election. In a media release, the board said it was necessary to “remind the candidates, and clarify for the public, that the police services board is a distinct and separate body from city council.”

The Ottawa Police Services Board is responsible for hiring the chief, but what are its other responsibilities, and who sits on it? How will it be different after Monday’s election?

Who sits on the police services board?

Under provincial law, the board must consist of an equal number of members appointed from the local municipal council and the province, as well as one community member selected by council. In Ottawa, the board consists of seven members: three provincial appointees, three council members and one council appointee.

The current provincial appointees are Salim Fakirani, a former lawyer with the Canadian Human Rights Commission; Peter Henschel, a retired RCMP Deputy Commissioner; and Michael Doucet, former chief technology officer (CTO) and then chief information officer (CIO) for the RCMP.

The provincial members were recently appointed to a three-year term on the board and will remain in place after the election, regardless of the results.

Suzanne Valiquet is the citizen appointed by council who sits on the board.

The city councillors currently serving on the board are Eli El-Chantiry, who chairs the board and occupies the seat reserved for the mayor if the mayor wishes to sit on the board, plus Cathy Curry and Jeff Leiper.

Curry and Leiper are running for re-election; El-Chantiry is not.

After Monday’s election, when the new council forms on Nov. 15, the board will have, at least, a new chair. All three of the council members who sit on the board might be different.

In its first weeks and months, the board’s responsibilities will include recruiting a deputy chief, reviewing and approving the 2023 police budget and developing a new strategic plan for the police service.

What does a police services board do?

In Ontario, these boards oversee local policing, whether the community is home to its own police force, has a joint police force with other municipalities or contracts out local policing to the Ontario Provincial Police. According to the province, boards like the one in Ottawa that oversee municipal police services are responsible for setting objectives and priorities for the local force, preparing a business plan every three years, appointing members of the force, recruiting the chief and deputy chief of the police (and monitoring their performances) and participating in collective bargaining as the employer.

What is its relationship with the Ottawa Police Service?

Under the Police Services Act, the board must provide “adequate and effective policing services” in the city of Ottawa. The board provides strategic direction to the force, approves the annual police budget, hires the chief, and acts as an oversight body.

With files from Postmedia staff