Eric Stubbs from RCMP will become Ottawa's next police chief
Deputy chief Steve Bell has been serving as interim chief since Peter Sloly resigned amid convoy protest
Eric Stubbs, an assistant commissioner with the RCMP in British Columbia, was named the new chief of the Ottawa Police Service on Friday afternoon, as a federal inquiry drags on into the protest that resulted in the former chief's resignation and the complete overhaul of the police oversight board.
For the past five years Stubbs has served as Criminal Operations Officer in charge of core policing for the B.C. Mounties.
His leadership of the national capital's police service will take effect Nov. 17, 2022.
"We are confident he will earn the trust, confidence and the heart of members of the Ottawa Police Service, as well as the ... community," said Eli El-Chantiry, the current chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board, in a virtual news conference Friday announcing the hire.
The hiring team was impressed by Stubbs's ability to connect with people, El-Chantiry added.
Peter Sloly resigned as chief more than eight months ago at the height of the convoy occupation in the city's downtown core.
Deputy chief Steve Bell had been serving as interim chief since then.
El-Chantiry thanked Bell for his service Friday, saying "he has done a great job" leading the force through the end of the protest, the subsequent Rolling Thunder protest, big events like St. Patrick's Day and Canada Day, and May's fatal derecho windstorm.
Stubbs — who recently caught COVID and was unable to travel to Ottawa for Friday's announcement — said the appointment is "truly an honour" and that he's "humbled" to serve in the capital. He also thanked Bell for his work as interim chief, calling him a "true leader" and adding that he's "respected [Bell] from afar" for a number of months.
"I don't take this role lightly, and the road ahead will be challenging. And ... we will strive to meet those expectations every day," Stubbs said.
Timing remains under scrutiny
Earlier this week, mayoral candidates Bob Chiarelli and Catherine McKenney wrote to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission asking that it look into the board's decision to hire a new chief before the new city council is sworn in on Nov. 15.
In a letter to the civilian police oversight body, they asked that the commission investigate a "potential conflict:" that the board chair is an honourary co-chair of Mark Sutcliffe's campaign, and that Sutcliffe is the only leading mayoral candidate in favour of hiring a new chief before Monday's municipal election.
The Ottawa Police Services Board disputes that characterization of the move.
"The board takes this opportunity to remind the candidates, and clarify for the public, that the Police Services Board is a distinct and separate body from City Council, created by …the Police Services Act," a news release from the board said on Thursday.
El-Chantiry has pointed out that it is the board's statutory obligation to hire a new chief and the new board likely wouldn't convene until late 2022 or early 2023, which would make hiring a new chief before the spring unlikely.
He added Friday that other municipalities are looking for new police chiefs, and Ottawa "wanted to get ahead of that." He also said the board had been working hard "non-stop" since late July to find a replacement, and that it would be "unacceptable" to expect residents to wait longer.
Faces a 'massive challenge'
Michael Kempa, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, said Stubbs is walking into a "massive challenge" given what has been revealed at the ongoing public inquiry into the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act, which includes inner police "dysfunction" during the convoy protest.
"We hope that he turns out to be perhaps the greatest chief that we've seen in Ottawa's history. We're going to need one," Kempa said.
Coming from outside Ottawa may make it more difficult for Stubbs to effect change, he added.
Kempa alluded to the uneasy relationship between the Ottawa Police Association and Sloly, the police's first Black chief who entered the job with a mandate to change the internal culture of the force. Sloly himself, in recent testimony before a parliamentary committee, spoke to those tensions.
"He's going to have to get used to, as an RCMP officer, working with a very well-developed union here in Ottawa that will chew up an outsider whose agenda they don't agree with," Kempa said of Stubbs.
Biography
Stubbs first became an RCMP officer in 1993, serving in six B.C. communities, including Prince George.
In 2014 he moved to RCMP headquarters in Ottawa as director general of national criminal operations, where he remained until 2017 with a portfolio including national use of force policy, operational policy, traffic services and the operational research unit.
In 2017 he returned to B.C. to head the overall strategic direction, leadership, and operations of Core Policing functions in the province.
It's a portfolio that includes overseeing 125 RCMP detachments and specialized units such as Emergency Response Teams, Indigenous policing, highway patrol and more.
Move to hire interim chief in February ended badly
Briefly in February, the Ottawa Police Services Board was poised to bring in a new interim chief, but that process ended in a dramatic overhaul of the board and the candidate withdrawing.
That event has been dissected this week at the ongoing public inquiry.
Following Sloly's resignation, Coun. Diane Deans was removed from her role as chair of the board after offering the job to an outside candidate without consulting council.
After the oversight board's upheaval, Bell stayed on as interim chief.