Former Toronto Police Services Board chair says panel may recommend regional policing model for Thunder Bay, which would see police work alongside the OPP, First Nations police services, civilian overseers and community groups
“There are financial, human resources and potential community partners who are willing to work with Thunder Bay Police Service to make sure that the system of policing here is part of a network of safety and wellness services that are provided, and that it is not the sole responder to issues,” he said.
The 2016 census found that 12.7 per cent of Thunder Bay’s residents were Indigenous, but Our Health Counts, an independent project by health researchers, has estimated that the true Indigenous population at that time was about three times higher than the government figure. The city serves as a regional hub for dozens of rural and remote Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.at least 2018, when two damning reports found systemic racism in the police force and the board.
Around the time of the release of the reports, the Thunder Bay Police Services Board selected its first Indigenous chair, Celina Reitberger, and appointed the service’s first female police chief, Sylvie Hauth. In 2021, Ms. Reitberger’s successor as chair, another Indigenous woman named Georjann Morriseau, filedagainst the force, in which she claimed police had subjected her to discrimination and harassment in an attempt to cover up a leak of confidential information. In April, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission appointed an administrator, Malcolm Mercer, to oversee the police board, giving him the ability to make decisions unilaterally on the board’s behalf.
Last month, hours after Chief Hauth announced that she would be retiring from her job in 2023, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission
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