Thunder Bay Police Services Board Investigation - FINAL REPORT
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Thunder Bay Police Services Board Investigation - FINAL REPORT Senator Murray Sinclair, Lead Investigator Submitted to: Linda Lamoureux Executive Chair Safety, Licensing, Appeals and Standard Tribunals Ontario November 1, 2018 Contributions and Acknowledgements Many people have contributed to this investigation and the findings of this report, but a few bear special mention. Retired City of Winnipeg Police Sergeant Cecil Sveinson arranged some of the community interviews and provided valuable advice on matters relating to police training, recruitment and general police behavior. Tom Lockwood QC, acted as an important liaison with the OCPC and also assisted in a liaison role with the OIPRD. He helped conduct witness interviews, and his assistant Dorothy Balazs scheduled most of the witness interviews. His prior experience as OCPC Investigator helped keep this investigation on track. Professor Andrew Graham responded to my call for assistance and provided valuable insights into police board governance issues generally. Graham Boswell was assigned early on to the Investigation by the OCPC and was a great help in coordinating matters with Commission staff, especially the Media Scan, as well as identifying issues and witnesses. Shannon McDunnough and Gun Koleoglu of OCPC helped oversee the collecting of transcripts and documents. The Investigation’s General Counsel, Candice Metallic of Maurice Law, supported me with legal advice as needed, and did a considerable amount of research on the issues set out in the Report. She worked tirelessly in preparing for witness interviews and gathering background information, as well as writing early versions of some of the sections and following up with others assigned to complete tasks as needed. I feel very lucky that she agreed to help in this challenging endeavor. Tanya Talaga, author of “Seven Fallen Feathers”, provided me with valuable insight into the stories of the seven young Indigenous people whose deaths in Thunder Bay led to an Inquest that made several recommendations concerning Indigenous Youth safety in that community. Her research led to her role as this year’s CBC Massey Lecturer, and inspired “All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward”, examining the lasting legacies of Residential schools and its impact on the incredibly high Indigenous Youth suicide rates in this country. Her voice will be a guiding influence for years to come. I especially want to acknowledge Jennifer David, Valerie Assinewe, Geraldine King and Terry Rudden of NVision Insight Group for their work in editing the Final Report. Finally, I want to thank the students of Dennis Franklin Cromarty and the office of the Ontario Child Advocate who met with me and provided me with a very important perspective of life in Thunder Bay for Indigenous Youth. They were in my thoughts in the preparation of this report. In addition, the many Elders who spoke with me from the community also deserve my gratitude. They were most gracious with their time, kind in their thinking and clear in their wish for a safe community. We owe it to all of them to provide that. ii Cover Image: The Sleeping Giant (June 2018), photo by NorsheO. Licensed through Wikipedia Creative Commons. iii Executive Summary Introduction This document is the report of an investigation undertaken between July 21, 2017 and October 31, 2018 by the Honourable Senator Murray Sinclair regarding the Thunder Bay Police Services Board (“Report”). The Investigation was conducted in response to concerns raised by First Nations leaders from Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Grand Council Treaty 3 and the Rainy River First Nations regarding the Thunder Bay Police Services Board’s (“Board” ) oversight of police services following a series of deaths and race-based violence against Indigenous peoples in Thunder Bay (“Investigation”). The Ontario Civilian Police Commission (“OCPC”), an arms-length agency the of Ontario government, retained Senator Murray Sinclair to lead and direct the Investigation with a particular emphasis on the Board’s monitoring of the relationship between the Thunder Bay Police Service (“TBPS”) and the Indigenous community. The Investigation was mandated to examine: 1. “The Thunder Bay Police Services Board (TBPSB)’s performance in carrying out its responsibilities pursuant to section 31(1) of the Police Services Act (“PSA”) to ensure the provision of ‘adequate and effective’ police services in Thunder Bay; 2. The TBPSB’s role in determining ‘objectives and priorities with respect to police services’ in Thunder Bay, pursuant to section 31(1)(b) of the PSA; 3. The TBPSB’s role in establishing policies for the effective management of the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS), pursuant to section 31(1)(c) of the PSA; and 4. The TBPSB’s role in ensuring that police services provided in Thunder Bay are provided in accordance with the Declaration of Principles set out in section 1 of the PSA” (Ontario Civilian Police Commission). This Executive Summary provides an overview of the process followed to undertake this Investigation; of the issues, trends and concerns the Investigation identified; and of the recommendations and remedial measures proposed to address those concerns. The Investigation The Investigation process formally began after Terms of Reference were issued and an Investigation team was assembled. The team was comprised of OCPC internal and external lawyers assigned by the Commission, an Indigenous lawyer and an Indigenous policing consultant chosen by Senator Sinclair (“Investigation Team”). The Investigation Team initiated the Investigation with meetings on September 7, 2017 with the Chair of the Board, Jackie Dojack, accompanied by the Board’s legal counsel, Robert Edwards, and later that day with the full Board and their legal counsel. These meetings clarified the purpose and process of the Investigation, and reviewed the issues under Investigation in a preliminary manner. Members of the Investigation Team attended a Town Hall meeting organized by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director in relation to their concurrent investigation into the TBPS. This provided important context to the state of police / Indigenous relations in Thunder Bay. The Investigation Team also met with two of the three Indigenous leaders who initiated the complaint to the OCPC, Nishnawbe Aski Nation (“NAN”) Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and Grand Council of Treaty 3 Grand Chief Francis Kavanagh. The Investigation Team also held discussions with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (“MCSCS”) and the Office of the Chief iv Coroner. Following a documentary and literature review of relevant studies, reports, media articles, correspondence and documents available, the Investigation Team prepared and submitted an Interim Report to the OCPC on October 31, 2017. The Interim Report provided an initial identification and review of the issues that would be the subject of the Investigation. Following submission of the Interim Report, the Investigation Team identified potential individual and organizational witnesses from Indigenous groups and the policing community willing to share their experience and perspectives on the issues under Investigation. Over the next year, the Investigation Team met with over 90 individuals, including a dozen students and representatives of over 22 Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations, service providers, government departments, and educational institutions. The Investigation Team received a significant amount of information and much assistance throughout the process from the Board and from the TBPS. We are thankful for their support, and acknowledge their role in ensuring we had the necessary information to inform the analysis in this Report. The Context The current state and structure of policing in Thunder Bay is inextricably linked to the city’s historical relationship with the First Nations who inhabited the region for millennia. In the early years of the fur trade, the Thunder Bay area was a meeting place for Indigenous trappers and French traders, with the Kaministiquia River serving as a point of entry and transit for western settlement. British interest in securing lands for settlement and development led to the 1850 Robinson-Superior Treaty, which provided the Crown with access to 43,000 square kilometres of land. The Treaty defined hunting and fishing rights and promised annual payments to First Nation signatories. Since the signing the Treaty, however, privileges and reserve land have been eroded and rescinded. Land has been expropriated to facilitate settlement and development through a series of “surrenders”, depriving First Nations of both land and livelihoods, and leading to their increasing marginalization in the social, political and economic life of the growing urban centre The rapid expansion in the twentieth century of transportation services and industry led to prosperity and population growth, primarily among European-based demographic groups. When the present city of Thunder Bay was formed in 1970, its history and structure already embodied many of the elements that give rise to the concerns addressed in this Investigation. The city’s position as a transportation, education, health care and service hub for First Nations across Northern Ontario has attracted a large permanent and transitory Indigenous population. This group, however, has not by and large shared in the prosperity; First Nation residents are under-represented in the governance, economy and institutions of the city, and over-represented