After a year of work, the group of police experts advising the board in northwest Ontario that is in charge of the troubled Thunder Bay Police Service will give its final report next week.
At the police board meeting on Thursday, panel chair Alok Mukherjee will talk about the report’s findings and make suggestions.
The nine-person board was put together by the Thunder Bay Police Services Board.panel in March 2022During a time when there was a lot of trouble. More and more current and former police officers, as well as a member of the board that oversees the police, filed human rights complaints.
At the same time, Two of the three agencies in Ontario that watch over the police plusThe Ontario Provincial Police started looking into reports of criminal behavior.Against people in the force, including the people in charge. A secret report said that there were serious problems with the way TBPS looked into the sudden deaths of almost all Indigenous people, andIt was suggested that 14 deaths be looked into again..
The Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) has done a lot since then.appointed an administratorTo take over the board for the second time in four years, which madeAt the time, three of the five board members had to leave..
Last month, the OCPC decided to extend administrator Malcolm Mercer’s term until March 2024 because the police board’s oversight of the police is still an emergency.
The board is still rebuilding. Four of the five positions have been filled: Mayor Ken Boshcoff, Councilwoman Shelby Ch’ng, Denise Baxter, and Karen Machado. A spokesperson for Ontario’s solicitor general told CBC News in the past that the last job should be filled soon.
There have been interim recommendations
The expert panel has been given a wide-ranging task: to look at the oversight board’s strategic plan, policies, and training programs, meet with people in the community, and figure out how and why they work.Previous reports found that racism was built into the police system.Have not been put into place.
In September, the committee released an interim report with a number of suggestions, such as:
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Enshrining made sure that First Nations people from the nearby Fort William First Nation and from the rest of northwestern Ontario could get board positions.
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Giving preference to a Native American or a person of color when looking for a new police chief.
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Adopting a vision that is anti-racist and sensitive to the needs of front-line officers and the community.
Since those suggestions were made public, the board has hiredDarcy Fleury as the next police chief of the service.. The previous chief, Slyvie Hauth, quit right before hearings were set up to look into claims of wrongdoing.
The police board said that Fleury is Métis and that his father was one of the people who started the Manitoba Métis Federation.
Two of the new board members, Machado of the Red Rock Indian Band and Baxter of the Marten Falls First Nation, are from First Nations.