The fiasco of Toronto’s G20 Summit could soon have implications for policing across the province.

The chair of the Ottawa police board is asking the Ontario government to clarify the role of all such boards, in light of a report by retired judge John Morden that sharply criticized the Toronto Police Services Board for not weighing in on police operations and tactics before the summit.

“All along, (police) keep telling you, ‘Oh, this is operational. You can’t tell us what to do. You can’t interfere with operations,’” said Ottawa deputy mayor Eli El-Chantiry, who has headed the Ottawa Police Services Board since 2005. He said police brass insist, “‘You can just set policy, hire the chief, and give us our budget.’

“So now they’re coming out with those recommendations which mean the board should have done more,” El-Chantiry said. “Well, I’d like to know — are we allowed to interfere or not?”

His board passed a resolution July 30 asking the minister of community safety and correctional services to answer that question.

Morden, who was appointed to lead a review of G20 by the Toronto police board, made 38 recommendations to strengthen the board’s oversight of the police force, powers he said boards are already theirs to exercise under the provincial Police Services Act. The board accepted all the recommendations.

They include sharing “information on all matters of operations and policy” between the board and force, as well as determining “appropriate objectives, priorities, and policies for major events, operations, and organizationally-significant issues in which the Toronto Police Service will be involved.”

The recommendations followed consultations with board members, the chief and the RCMP, as well as ministry staff.

Lawyer Ryan Teschner, who served as review council for Morden, says the former judge “interpreted the legislation that was in front of him and made his recommendations based on that.”

But others aren’t so sure and think the recommendations may require legislative changes.

“The analysis that Justice Morden has done is new to many, many boards in the province, because they’ve all had a historical understanding of the separation of the board’s and chief’s role,” explains Alok Mukherjee, chair of the Toronto board. “Mr. Morden is asking us to make some radical changes in how we think about the board’s powers, and that is new for most boards.”

“I understand (El-Chantiry’s) consternation,” he said. Mukherjee said the board had received a letter expressing similar concerns from the Durham Region Police Services Board.

The Ontario Association of Police Services Boards is currently reviewing Morden’s report to decide if it will endorse or reject the recommendations. The association could also go to the provincial government if it thinks there needs to be regulatory or legislative change to the act.

If they reject Morden’s report, El-Chantiry says he’s not sure he can leave it there.

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“To be honest with you, we can’t ignore them. If something happens in the future, somebody could say that Justice Morden recommended those things — why didn’t you follow up on them?

“We cannot leave something of this magnitude hanging over us with a different interpretation,” continues El-Chantiry. “You need clarity on it. And that’s what I’m looking for.”

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