Thunder Bay police expert panel to hold public consultations this week

A panel tasked with developing recommendations to address policing issues in Thunder Bay will hear from the community this week.

The independent expert panel, which was struck by the Thunder Bay Police Services Board in March, is scheduled to hold public consultations on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The panel will be doing its work while the Thunder Bay Police Service finds itself with a chief suspended while facing an Ontario Civilian Police Commission hearing for alleged misconduct, numerous human rights complaints filed by current and former officers, and a report recommending the reinvestigation of additional sudden death cases involving Indigenous people.

Panel chair Alok Mukherjee said the group has started its work by accessing and reviewing policies and procedures, along with other documents and resources. He said they have also reached out to Indigenous leaders, present and former police services board members, and former police chiefs.

Mukherjee referenced previous reports — including the OCPC investigation into the city's police services board led by former senator Murray Sinclair and the Office of the Independent Police Review Director's report reviewing Indigenous sudden death investigations — which were carried out less than five years ago.

"We are very mindful of the fact that Thunder Bay has been under the lens for some time," Mukherjee said.

"In the last few years the board and the service has been claiming to implement them, yet we find ourselves facing a situation where leaders of Indigenous communities and others are calling for disbandment of the police service.

"We want to understand — listening carefully — to the leaders, the public, members of the communities, why is that after all that work we are facing somewhat of a lack of confidence in the police service and its governing body."

Mukherjee said the suspension of Thunder Bay Police Chief Sylvie Hauth and the resignation of several police services board members would not affect the panel's work.

The panel has developed a good working relationship with board administrator Malcolm Mercer, he added.

At the time the panel was announced, Indigenous leaders expressed concerns about whether it would be able to lead to change.

"The reports are just going to pile on top of one another," said Anishinabek Nation Deputy Regional Grand Chief Melvin Hardy in March. "This is smoke and mirrors, and not actually action."

Mukherjee, who chaired Toronto's police services board for a decade, said he specifically wants to know whether the board and service had established formal agreements with First Nations that would create a framework for a cooperative and collaborative working relationship on a day-to-day basis.

Indigenous leaders have made several calls for action, including the disbandment of the Thunder Bay Police Service and the force losing the authority to investigate Indigenous deaths.

The call to disband a police service is an "extreme ask," Mukherjee said, adding the panel needs to listen carefully to understand why those calls have been made.

Mukherjee said there isn't yet an expectation for when the panel's findings will be released publicly, saying the group will reassess after this week's consultations to determine a realistic timeline.

"We promise to be very aggressive in not delaying the completion of our work, and we remain committed to that aggressive pace of work," he said.