Mayoral candidates call for delay in hiring new police chief

A police vehicle sits outside the Ottawa Police headquarters on Elgin St. in this undated photo. (CTV News Ottawa)

Two Ottawa mayoral candidates are calling for the Ottawa Police Services Board to delay hiring the new police chief until after the municipal election.

Voters head to the polls Monday to elect a new mayor and councillors, but the current term of council will continue into early November, as the new council won’t be sworn in until Nov. 15. The Ottawa Police Services Board is continuing in the process of hiring the next chief of police, despite the upcoming overturn of leadership at city hall.

In a joint statement to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, Coun. Catherine McKenney and former Ottawa mayor Bob Chiarelli say the incoming council should have a say in who is chose to lead the Ottawa Police Service.

“A rushed process to hire a police chief in the middle of the campaign, overseen by an outgoing councillor days before an election, will not restore the trust we need after a national crisis,” McKenney wrote.

Coun. Eli El-Chantiry is the chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board and is an honourary campaign co-chair on Mark Sutcliffe’s mayoral campaign. McKenney and Chiarelli say this presents a conflict of interest.

“Mark Sutcliffe is the only major mayoral candidate who is comfortable with a new police chief being hired in the middle of the campaign. It is a conflict of interest that Councillor El-Chantiry is overseeing both the hiring of the new police chief and the Mark Sutcliffe campaign as a Co-Chair,” the letter says.

El-Chantiry said accusations of a conflict of interest are “baseless.”

“It is unfortunate that candidates in the election are trying to politicize the Police Board’s legitimate exercise of its independent authority,” he said in a statement to CTV News. “They are undermining the collective experience and expertise of the current Board and putting the stability of the Police Service further at risk by suggesting this process can be delayed until the next term, which would mean the Service would be without a permanent Chief until next spring or later, in all practicality.”

Sutcliffe said he hasn't spoken with El-Chantiry about the hiring of the next police chief.

“I think what is important here is that we don't politicize the hiring of the next chief of police in Ottawa. It sounds great to say lets wait to the next mayor and council is elected but it is not the responsibility of the mayor and city council to hire the next police chief,” he told CTV News Ottawa’s Leah Larocque. “We have an independent police services board for a reason and they have a job to do and there a process that has been underway for a few months already to hire a police chief.”

CANDIDATES 'POLITICIZING' HIRING PROCESS: EL-CHANTIRY

The Ottawa Police Services Board voted unanimously in July to continue with recruitment process for a new police chief, moving it onto the posting stage. The motion specifically stated the board wanted to “ensure improved stability of the Executive Command of the OPS prior to the turnover of the Board’s membership,” noting that the board’s makeup will likely change after the municipal election.

Ottawa has been without a police chief since Peter Sloly resigned in February amid the “Freedom Convoy” demonstration. Steve Bell has been doing the job on an interim basis.

A short time after Sloly’s resignation, several members of the Ottawa Police Services Board resigned and council voted its then-chair Coun. Diane Deans off the board, replacing her with El-Chantiry.

Deans and El-Chantiry are not seeking re-election.

In a letter to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, El-Chantiry said McKenney and Chiarelli are misleading the commission and the public about the process of hiring the new chief of police.

“This letter is entirely contrary to the structure and intent of the Police Services Act. Under the Act the Board has a statutory obligation to recruit and appoint the Chief of Police and any Deputy Chiefs of Police. Municipal Council does not have a statutory role or legislated authority in this regard,” El-Chantiry wrote. “It would appear that the authors of the letter are trying to circumvent or undermine the independence the Board, as the Board is trying to carry out its statutory duty.”

El-Chantiry also defended the board's public consultation process.

He said 214 people were engaged through a series of nine targeted forums and focus groups as part of a consultation process, 35 interviews were conducted with faith leaders, school board trustees, business owners, councillors, youth advocates, and others, 23 members of the public an open public forum, and there were 1,451 responses an online survey held on the subject.

“It is obvious that the two candidates are not thinking about the community or the Police Service when they suggest that the hiring process should be delayed and undertaken in the next term of Council,” El-Chantiry wrote. “They are undermining the collective experience and expertise of the current Board and putting the stability of the Police Service further at risk.”

The Ottawa Police Services Board meets Oct. 31, one week after the election, but prior to the swearing in of the new council.

McKenney and Chiarelli’s joint statement calls for an “ethical” process to replacing the police chief.

“The people of Ottawa understand this is a conflict of interest. To build a City Hall that you can trust, we must restore trust in the Ottawa Police Services, and this includes an ethical hiring of the new chief.”

McKenney previously called on other mayoral candidates, including Sutcliffe, to join in on the call to delay the hiring of the new chief.

The issue of policing has been one of the main wedge issues on the mayoral campaign, with Sutcliffe vocally opposing “defunding” police. His platform includes hiring at least 100 new positions over the next four years, and expand neighbour resource teams in the ByWard Market and Dundonald Park areas. He is also pledging to build a police station in the ByWard Market and install CCTV cameras in select areas. Sutcliffe says he will sit on the Ottawa Police Services Board, but will also recruit “a strong independent community member who is qualified not only to serve on the Police Services Board but also step into the role of Chair.”

The hiring of the new chief also comes amid the Public Order Emergency Commission into the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act during “Freedom Convoy” protests in February. While the inquiry is aimed at determining whether the Act was needed, the opening days have focused largely on the situation in Ottawa, and the response by the city and the Ottawa Police Service, who are the police of jurisdiction in the areas the protesters occupied for three weeks.

OTTAWA POLICE ASSOCIATION CRITICAL OF MCKENNEY

With less than a week to go before voters elect a new mayor, the union representing Ottawa police officers says it is not endorsing any candidates, but is denouncing one specifically.

Interim Ottawa Police Association President Brian Samuel called out McKenney by name in a video statement released Tuesday.

“Catherine McKenney has an extensive history of using harmful, misleading rhetoric against police officers,” Samuel said, without citing any specific examples.

“Support of any attempts to characterize Ottawa Police Association Members as abusive, racist, and violent, are not only wrong, but do not align with the record of millions of calls for service over decades that have been handled with diligence and professionalism by our members.”

Samuel did not say specifically who was attempting to characterize the police as abusive, racist or violent, or which comments specifically McKenney allegedly supports, but accusations of racism and sexual abuse within the police service were significant issues that former chief Peter Sloly said he was focused on dealing with.

McKenney told CTV News they were not available to comment on the OPA’s statement on Wednesday, but issued the following statement:

“I know from personal experience during the convoy occupation just how critical it is to have effective law enforcement in our city.

“Public trust in our police service needs to be restored. As mayor, I will work collaboratively with the Ottawa Police Service to ensure that effective and evidence-based policing makes our city safer for all residents, including in times of crisis.

“Further, the hiring of the new police chief will be crucial to restoring trust, and the outgoing council and Police Services Board must wait until voters can democratically elect their new representatives, before hiring a new chief. This is why I have called for the hiring process to take place after the election.” 

Sutcliffe wouldn't comment on the OPA video itself when speaking with CTV News, saying he would allow it to “speak for itself”, but said voters he's spoken with are “concerned” about McKenney.

“I do know that there is a lot of concern in the community when I knock on doors that Catherine McKenney has a record of speaking out against the police and in favour of cutting the police budget. Catherine is supported by people who have talked about defunding the police and cutting the budget by hundreds of millions of dollars. I think most residents of Ottawa want to see a strong police service to keep the community safe,” he said.