Thunder Bay, Ont., police board under scrutiny over how it handled human rights complaints
CBC
As the Thunder Bay Police Service faces allegations of a toxic workplace culture, the oversight board for the northwestern Ontario force is under increased scrutiny amid calls for an administrator to be appointed.
Some are calling for the Thunder Bay Police Services Board to be disbanded and temporarily replaced by an administrator — for the second time in a matter of years.
"They're not doing their job on an interim basis until these [human rights complaints] can be fleshed out on actual evidence, factual findings and legal analysis, either through a settlement or at the tribunal," human rights lawyer Chantelle Bryson told CBC News.
Bryson is representing all nine active and retired officers and civilians who filed the complaints with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, including board member Georjann Morriseau.
None of the allegations in the human rights tribunal filings have been tested or proven in court.
Board chair Kristen Oliver did not respond to a CBC News request for an interview. But in an email, Oliver said "given that we are before the Human Rights Tribunal, the board is steadfast that we do not want to jeopardize the integrity of the process, as such we are limited on what we can say publicly."
The police services board is named as a respondent in all nine human rights complaints, which allege they are "doing nothing in response [to the complaints] to protect officers or the public."
Four of the five board members — chair and city councillor Oliver, Mayor Bill Mauro, Michael Power and Roydon Pelletier — as well as board secretary and former Thunder Bay city clerk John Hannam — have been named as individual respondents in fellow board member Morriseau's human rights reprisal.
Reprisals are followup complaints made after a complainant faced retaliatory actions or threats in response to their original complaints.
The reprisal alleges that after Morriseau filed her human rights complaint in October, the board members and Hannam sought to remove Morriseau from the police services board by requesting an investigation from the Ontario Civilian Police Commission.
The commission would not say if it ever opened an investigation into Morriseau.
But a letter dated Jan. 22 from Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones confirmed she requested a separate civilian police investigation into the chief, deputy chief and administration of the Thunder Bay police force following allegations included in the human rights complaints. Bryson shared that letter with CBC News.
Bryson has also called for an independent administrator to be appointed to resolve the outstanding issues, as the human rights complaints go before the tribunal.
Yet, in the three weeks since the investigation was requested, it's unclear if there has been any action on any fronts.
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