As Thunder Bay strives to bring in more business, police chief aims to change city's reputation

Nearly six months into his role as chief of the Thunder Bay Police Service, Darcy Fleury has set three key priorities for his team: restructuring the organization, improving community engagement, and enforcement.

He shared his plans during a luncheon hosted by the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, where business owners met with him and asked questions about how he'll improve community safety.

The police service and its oversight board have received hundreds of recommendations in recent years about how to improve operations. That includes the 2018 Broken Trust report from the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which found systemic racism within the force, and a report from an expert panel released this spring which called for urgent, transformational change. 

Based on those, Fleury announced that a second deputy police chief will be hired by February or March 2024 who will focus on human resources and administrative tasks. Candidates will be considered both within the service and externally.

Originally, it was suggested this position be dedicated as an Indigenous affairs deputy, but the service decided to delegate that portfolio to Fleury.

"One of the recommendations is to rebuild that trust and it's really important for us," Fleury said. "We've got some really good conversations with our Indigenous groups; their governments and agencies are working towards that. Again, that's going to be a long process but we're definitely laying the groundwork for that and moving in the right direction."

'Trying to change the narrative'

Chamber president Charla Robinson said a key concern among members is what they should do if they see an impaired person loitering outside their business or sleeping in their doorway. There used to be a program run by Shelter House called SOS, which diverted these types of non-criminal calls from police and took a more humane approach, but that ended last fall due to a lack of funding.

Fleury's advice is for businesses to call police anyway, even if an officer can't respond right away.

"We might not be able to act on it immediately but at least we have the information and if we see a continuation or an escalation in activity, then we can actually have some information to fall back on, so it's really important that people call," he said.

The city has struggled with a negative reputation stemming from documented systemic racism within the police force and of being the "murder capital of Canada." That's something Robinson said she hopes the community can overcome.

"Perception is reality when you're looking at attracting, whether that's employees from elsewhere, whether that's businesses from elsewhere, whether that's even students to come to the university and the college," said Robinson. "Anything that we can do to reverse the negative publicity that we've received over previous years is a positive thing."

"I think we're all trying to change the narrative," she said. "Every community does have challenges but we're trying to change the narrative around how we're addressing those challenges."

Partnerships with NAN, schools

As part of rebuilding trust with Indigenous groups, Fleury said the police service is working with Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) to visit remote communities, upon invitation, and meet with First Nations youth before they move to Thunder Bay to complete their high school education.

"Part of our reason for going to the communities is to have that engagement with students that may be coming down next year and say: 'Hey this is what you can expect of your police department. Don't be afraid. Don't be worried or scared to come and tell us what's going on,'" he said.

The police service also plans to hold town hall meetings specifically for Indigenous community members to ask questions and express their concerns as part of Fleury's plans for ongoing community consultation.

Fleury began his role by holding a series of town hall meetings for members of the general public in Thunder Bay, and said he plans to host more soon.

'Still looking' for guns and gangs relief

Another key priority for Fleury revolves around escalating guns and gang violence in the city. When he arrived, he said he was working with city officials to secure funding from upper levels of government to address this. On Tuesday, he said they're "still looking" for those dollars.

"Everybody's working hard to try to find those avenues," Fleury said. "We're going to continue to put those proposals forward and some business cases, and I think we have really strong support here."

Robinson said it's promising to see Fleury take advantage of grant opportunities, something the police service hasn't seen much traction with in years.

"That's important so that we are on the list when there are dollars to be distributed and certainly those dollars will go a long way to address overall community safety," she said. "But that also is a positive for the business community because again, many of those safety issues often happen in the downtown core where businesses are."

Social service agencies also play a key role, especially with prevention. While Fleury said defunding the police is "a horrible idea," he did indicate more funding is needed for the workers who are helping the city's most vulnerable.

"Those agencies are going to be [on] the front line of how to help these people get out of the lifestyle they're in," he said.

"Money's not limitless, so we need to be aware that there's going to be some competing interests, but we have to work together and really focus on finding ways to get people in the right stream they need to be in."