In this issue:
1. Thinking of a new police chief for Toronto
2. New Board member
3. The morass of the RCMP
4. Subscribe to the Bulletin
Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin No. 129, April 6, 2021.
This Bulletin is published by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition (TPAC), a group of individuals and organizations in Toronto interested in police policies and procedures, and in making police more accountable to the community they are committed to serving. Our website is http://www.tpac.ca
***
In this issue:
1. Thinking of a new police chief for Toronto
2. New Board member
3. The morass of the RCMP
4. Subscribe to the Bulletin
***
1. Thinking of a new police chief for Toronto
The Police Service Board has now begun in earnest its search for a new chief. A head-hunting firm has been retained, and Environics has been hired to gather ideas from the public on the issue.
The Board ranks this is “one of its most important tasks, selecting a Chief of Police to lead the Toronto Police Service,” although one might question that assertion. Surely it would be more important for the Board to actually adopt a progressive agenda into which it might slot a new chief. But that has not been something it wishes to do, as was apparent after it rejected the advice of virtually all of the deputations of the scores of people who spoke to it last summer after the killing of George Floyd.
Several public meetings have been held with several more in the next few days, and a survey has been posted on the Board’s web site, https://tpsb.ca/consultations-and-publications/chief/23-consultations-and-publications/107-chief-selection-public-consultation-survey
The first question in the survey asks for the top issues facing the Toronto police. Here are four:
a) Take functions now done by police and put them, along with the police funding for them, in the control of social agencies which can do them better, including: responding to mental crisis calls, homelessness calls, youth calls, domestic dispute calls, drug overdose calls. Also, turn traffic control over to a city agency.
b) institute pre-charge screening, and do it informally with independent lawyers if the province will not assign crown attorneys
c) establish binding legal disciplinary procedures for racial and sexual discrimination
d) disarm rank and file officers, making guns and tasers available only to senior managers and the Emergency Task Force.
Then the survey has a traditional set of questions about how well the police are doing in a number of areas, followed by a request for one word answers, as though that will somehow help provide serious direction to the police service. This is followed by questions aimed at discovering the `character’ of a new chief.
The important part of the survey is the first question. It is worth replying to.
2. New Board member
Marie Moliner, one of the most progressive members of the Police Service Board, has retired after a nine year term. The new Board member is Ann Morgan. She was called to the bar in 1984, and joined the Toronto Downtown Crown Attorney's office in 1986. Her areas of specialty included wiretap applications, search warrants and homicide prosecutions. She was appointed as Deputy Director of Crown Operations in 2011 and retired in March 2017.
3. The morass of the RCMP
In March 2020, the Federal Court approved a $100-million class-action lawsuit against the RCMP for women subjected to gender-based discrimination in non-policing jobs with the RCMP. This follows a 2016 class action settlement for female RCMP officers for discrimination, harassment and assault.
For more than 30 years there have been calls to fix sexual harassment in the RCMP. Internal and external reports have been delivered both to the RCMP and the Government of Canada outlining a toxic work environment for women and LGBTQ2S+ persons employed by the RCMP. Retired Supreme Court justice Michel Bastarache was mandated to assess claims for compensation made by women who had experienced sexual harassment and gender or sexual orientation based discrimination. His report, issued in November 2020, is titled `Broken Dreams Broken Lives.’
The Executive Summary begins:
`One of the key findings of this Report is that the culture of the RCMP is toxic and tolerates misogynistic and homophobic attitudes amongst its leaders and members. This culture has resulted in incalculable damage to female members of the RCMP as well as those working for the public service. A change in the culture of the RCMP is essential. This Report concludes that change cannot come from within the RCMP but must be initiated from external sources.
`The stated values of the RCMP are Honesty, Integrity, Professionalism, Compassion, Accountability and Respect. However, the accounts that were submitted by claimants in the Merlo Davidson claims process demonstrated repeatedly how those values were undermined by the RCMP’s toxic culture which tolerates misogyny and homophobia by its members and its leaders.
`It is impossible to fully convey the depth of the pain that the Assessors witnessed in the 644 interviews that were conducted and 3,086 claims that were assessed. What the women told the Assessors shocked them to their core. This process has forever tarnished the image of the RCMP as a Canadian icon. Bright, well-educated women said that they joined the RCMP seeking to help others, sometimes because they themselves had needed help as a young person. They told the Assessors of the brutal treatment they experienced which ground them down, broke their confidence, and shattered their trust in their fellow officers. The full tragedy and suffering of what the RCMP’s failure to provide a safe workplace has done to these women is overwhelming.
`I have concluded, based on everything I was told over the past 3 years, that the culture of the RCMP is toxic and tolerates misogyny and homophobia at all ranks and in all provinces and territories. This culture does not reflect the stated values of the RCMP, and it is found throughout the organization. RCMP members and officers are forced to accept that they must function in the context of this culture to succeed. RCMP employees appear to blame the “bad apples” without recognizing the systemic and internal origins of this conduct. ‘
`Comprehensive cultural change is required. For the last 30 years issues of workplace and sexual harassment and discrimination have been brought to the attention of the Government of Canada and the RCMP through internal reports, external reports and litigation before the Courts. The measures taken in response have not, in my view, succeeded in addressing the underlying issues arising from the RCMP’s toxic culture.
`There have been calls for fundamental change to the RCMP with respect to its organization and governance to transform it into a modern police force. Some were recently discussed in the media. The possibility of fundamental structural change was also mentioned in the 2007 Brown Task Force report:
“Much has been said and written about the complexity of the RCMP given the organization’s law enforcement responsibilities in Canada and abroad. It would therefore not be unreasonable to argue that some or all of the solution to issues confronting the Force rests in breaking it up. Such a consideration would require a much broader public policy debate as to the policing model which best suits Canada and best serves Canadians.”
`Such a fundamental restructuring may be necessary to resolve entrenched issues of misogyny, racism and homophobia but will require an in-depth review which is beyond my mandate. In my view however, it is time to discuss the need to make fundamental changes to the RCMP and federal policing. I am of the view that cultural change is highly unlikely to come from within the RCMP. It has had many years and many reports and Recommendations and yet the unacceptable behaviours continue to occur. Women who supported a fresh start were of the view that they, as women, would be better accepted in a modern, federal policing organization. It is my belief the time has come for the Government of Canada to ask some hard questions about the structure and governance of federal policing.’
The report may be found at https://wwwe.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/final-report-implementation-merlo-davidson-settlement-agreement
It is a damning report, and one questions how the RCMP can move forward in any reasonable way. The person in charge of the RCMP is none other than Bill Blair, former chief of police in Toronto. One suspects that he is so enveloped in police culture that it will be difficult for him to recognize the problems elucidated by Mr. Justice Bastarache, and even more difficult for him to make the changes required. The report has now been public for five months, and there is no sign that serious change is in the works.
The report also raises the question, endemic to much policing in Canada, of the resistance of civilian authorities over many decades to provide effective governance.
4. Subscribe to the Bulletin
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this Bulletin, please send a note to info@tpac.ca with the instructions in the subject line or in the text of the message. Our e-mail list is confidential and will not be made available to others. There is no charge for the Bulletin. Our website is http://www.tpac.ca .
- end -