Black community frustrated, hurt by sudden loss of police chief
Question around why former chief hired to combat systemic racism became ‘scapegoat’
Peter Sloly's departure from the Ottawa Police Service was met with frustration and anger by many who viewed his mandate as a chance to rebuild fractured relations between Ottawa's BIPOC communities and the institutions tasked with protecting them.
Ewart Walters, a prominent member of the Black community who played a significant role in bringing Sloly to Ottawa from Toronto, said the departure doesn't bode well for those relations moving forward.
"It means that we will be subjected to white leadership in the Ottawa police once more," said Walters, former publisher of The Spectrum newspaper, referring to the interim police chief Steve Bell.
"It means that we have lost the opportunity to bring in a critical mass of Black officers, which was part of what was proposed ... [and] the kind of complaints that Black people have been making about their relations with police are likely to continue."
Walters wants the Ottawa Police Services Board to ask Sloly to withdraw his resignation. In his own letter posted to Twitter, Sloly said he was stepping down "with a heavy heart" but was pleased with what he'd accomplished.
Sloly took over as chief with the Ottawa Police Service in 2019, intending to tackle systemic racism, improve its response to mental health calls, and rebuild trust with the city's Black community.
WATCH: Ewart Walters on frustration of Sloly's resignation:
His hiring came after fierce criticism against the service regarding race-related matters and the death of Abdirahman Abdi, a Somali-Canadian man who died after a violent arrest by two Ottawa police officers in 2016.
Walters said the job posting Sloly applied for was designed through a dialogue between the police board and members of the Black community over a number of months.
While Sloly's appointment was a good start toward that healing, Walters said, he fears the chief faced many barriers in his quest to realize those goals.
The African Canadian Association of Ottawa also wrote a letter to the police board Tuesday arguing race played a significant factor in Sloly's departure.
"It's unfortunate he has become the scapegoat for the failure of the entire system," the letter reads. "We in the Black community do not accept this."
Pressure from within police ranks
The former chief recently faced an angry public, furious police officers didn't seem to enforce the law during the ongoing occupation. That included people bringing fuel to parked trucks, plus late-night dance parties over several weekends.
But he also faced pressure to step down from within his own ranks, according to sources.
Sloly allegedly belittled and berated senior Ottawa police officers in front of colleagues and failed to put forward a solid operations plan to end the crisis. Sources also said the chief came into conflict with members of the OPP and RCMP who were sent to Ottawa to help with the protest response.
The in-house opposition began early in his tenure, though, when Ottawa's first Black chief had ambitions to change the internal culture of the force.
The head of Ottawa's police union, Matt Skof, accused Sloly of lacking leadership and failing to support rank-and-file officers when the then-chief spoke out against an alleged incident of racial profiling.
Sloly was also the subject of a meme that compared him to Hitler, sued a local magazine for defamation, and found hateful anonymous notes on his windshield.
Groups watching changes in Ottawa police
The African Canadian Association said, as an umbrella organization with 75,000 members, it will continue watching what's taking place within the Ottawa Police Service with "an eagle's eye."
Walters also argued there was implied pressure from the federal government, but Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has said the decision was made by Sloly.
Still, Walters said he and fellow Black residents of Ottawa are "astounded" by Sloly's departure.
"The story about Black leaders — from the time of Othello right down to now — is the story of, there's going to be pressure all the time," he said.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
