After months of silence on the flawed Harrison family death investigations, Peel police Chief Jennifer Evans looked the sister of Bill Harrison in the eye on Friday and apologized — for the family’s loss, and for leaving relatives with the impression that she has been “avoiding dealing with this.”

Evans also made a bold request for the family to trust her, saying Peel’s internal review into how police handled the death investigations is a top priority.

“If there are errors we made, we will make it very public,” Evans said at a Peel Police Services Board meeting in Brampton. “This investigation is causing me great concern, and I know the impact this has had on your family. I apologize for any more stress this has caused your family.”

The chief’s comments followed a moving deputation by Elizabeth Gallant, whose brother, sister-in-law and nephew all died in their Mississauga home, one after the other, over four and a half years. Police did not investigate the 2009 death of Bill Harrison or the 2010 death of Bridget Harrison as homicides until after their son, Caleb, was murdered in 2013. A Star investigation documented the failures of Peel police, coroners and pathologists in the first two death probes.

“Neither Bill nor Bridget’s deaths were thoroughly investigated, and limited evidence was collected,” Gallant said. “We now want to know: What happened? What went wrong? … What needs to be fixed so no other family has to endure what we’ve been through?”

Gallant said they are concerned about the “secretive” internal review and asked the board to champion their request for an independent and transparent examination.

Read more:

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Peel police — and no one else — probing their own missteps in Harrison family murders

“Why should we — in fact, anyone, including the board — put its faith in an in-house review conducted by fellow police officers, when the Peel police failed us so badly?” Gallant said.

The chief’s sudden departure from silence on the Harrisons was a surprise, and the family was not sure what to make of it. They had previously been told they would not see the report, but on Friday, Evans vowed to make the findings public. Relatives were pleased to hear that, but they remain adamant about the need for an independent review.

In January, Caleb’s ex-wife, Melissa Merritt, and her common-law spouse, Christopher Fattore, were convicted of first-degree murder in his death. Fattore was also found guilty of first-degree murder in Bridget’s death, and not guilty of second-degree murder in Bill’s death. Their convictions followed a three-month criminal trial in which prosecutors argued the Harrisons were murdered at key moments in a bitter custody battle over Merritt and Caleb’s two children. Merritt and Fattore have both filed appeals.

The Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service are conducting their own internal review, which the province’s chief coroner, Dr. Dirk Huyer, said will likely be followed by an independent review. Earlier this month, Huyer told the Star his office expanded the scope of that review to examine missed homicides going all the way back to the case of Tammy Homolka in the 1990s.

Chief Evans launched Peel’s internal investigation in February, suspended it in March, then reinstated it after an uproar. The chief said the temporary suspension was meant to ensure the review did not interfere with the criminal appeal process. The review is being led by Insp. Joseph Paolini, a “senior officer and experienced investigator,” police said.

The family asked Paolini for a face-to-face meeting with Evans, but did not receive a response. (Evans refused interview requests from the Star until Friday, with a police spokesperson saying she wanted to protect the integrity of the appeal process.) The family saw the police board meeting as a chance to voice concerns to board members and to Evans, who attends the meetings. The board, a civilian body that governs the Peel Regional Police, allows members of the public to make five-minute deputations at their monthly meetings.

Earlier this month, Gallant gave notice to the board of her intent to make a deputation, which would put the Harrison family and the chief in the same room for the first time, and in a public setting. Soon after, Robert Serpe, executive director of the police board, emailed Gallant to ask if the family would meet him, the chief and legal counsel — in private.

Serpe told the Star in an email that this was not an attempt to avoid having her speak at the public meeting, but rather a move made out of concern that the five-minute time limit would not be enough.

“At no time were they dissuaded from making a public deputation,” Serpe said. “Ms. Gallant had the option for both a public statement and a private meeting. She chose both options. We will be meeting with her and the members of the family in the coming weeks.”

The board has not responded to the family’s request for members to champion an independent review.

Evans, who was recently awarded the 2018 Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police president’s award of merit, is no stranger to the importance of independent reviews. She has led or assisted in reviews of police conduct for inquiries into how two of Canada’s most notorious serial killers — Robert Pickton and Paul Bernardo — escaped capture for years.

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Why has she not called for an independent review into the conduct of her own force?

“Right now I want to do an immediate review to identify any potential risks within the organization that are continuing,” she said in an interview after the board meeting. “So if we identify flaws, then I want to make sure we act on them quickly.”

“The family needs to trust me,” she said. “I won’t be hiding anything. I will be coming out very publicly in speaking about this.”

“Trust is earned,” Wanda Jamieson, a Harrison family friend, said after the meeting. “And trust is fragile.”