Transparency, accountability key issues as police oversight review begins

Citizens who gathered for a meeting about police accountability Wednesday night were clear that they wanted Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to name the officers involved in deadly incidents.

Dozens gathered in North York on Wednesday afternoon for the first meeting of a police oversight review panel, which has a broad mandate to recommend ways to enhance police oversight and transparency.

The panel is set to review whether or not the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) — which looks into all cases involving serious injury, death or allegations of sexual assault involving police — should release more information about its investigations. The panel will also examine whether or not so many of the SIU's employees should be former police officers.

The Toronto meeting was the first of 18 that will take place across Ontario. The review comes as activist groups like Black Lives Matter demand an overhaul of the SIU in the wake of several fatal shootings of black men in the city.

Herman Stewart, who was involved with the demonstrations that led to the creation of the SIU in 1990, said he's less optimistic now than he was then that anything will change. However, he is happy a review is taking place.

"I will keep my fingers crossed," he told CBC News. 

Stewart said he's confident the group leading the review will produce a good report, but he's not sure how far it will go at Queen's Park, or if it will mean anything in the face of police resistance.

At the meeting, groups sat around round tables to discuss potential changes. Each person also filled out a survey to gauge their feelings about how transparent — or not — police forces are.

Again and again those who spoke raised similar issues: in particular a lack of transparency in how the SIU conducts its investigations and reports its findings.

Valerie Steele attended Wednesday's meeting and said the SIU, in its current form, does not meet the needs of the community.

"Anything but a total overhaul is unacceptable," she said. "Report after report recommends the same thing, so if you implement, if the government is serious about meeting our needs, we are going to hold them accountable."

A man who spoke to CBC News said issues of "trust, accountability and transparency" should be the top priorities of the review. 

"Right now it doesn't exist," he told CBC News. "On a scale of one to 10, it's below one." 

Another man who spoke said the police need to increase diversity in their ranks. 

"We cannot be a white boys club, as it is today. That's the number one problem," he said. 

Michael Tulloch, the first black justice on Ontario's Court of Appeal, is leading the review. The panel has already met privately with interested parties such as police representatives and families of victims and is also soliciting written input. 

Tulloch will report his findings to the attorney general by March 31, 2017. Currently, three different bodies are responsible for civilian oversight of police in Ontario: 

• The Special Investigations Unit, established in 1990, probes cases of death, serious injury or sexual assault involving officers.
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• The Office of the Independent Police Review Director, established in 2007, deals with public complaints about police.
   
• The Ontario Civilian Police Commission, also set up in 2007, adjudicates police discipline disputes and budget quarrels between police services and municipalities.