NOTE: This article has been edited from a previous version that stated Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion was on the police board. In fact, while the board is intended to include a position to be held by head of the municipal council or another appointed member of council, McCallion has never been a sworn member of the police services board, as confirmed by a representative.

The Peel Police Services Board has bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of tickets to private mayoral galas in Brampton and Mississauga, using “proceeds of crime” that in Ontario typically go to victim and crime prevention programs.

The tickets were purchased over the years while Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell and a fundraising organizer of Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion sat on the board — and with the approval of Peel Region chair Emil Kolb, who also heads the police board.

Minutes show, for example, that the board approved buying a $4,000 table at Fennell’s gala on Feb. 20 last year, on Fennell’s invitation. A month before the gala took place, then-board member Jim Murray put forward a motion to buy a second table. It was approved.

A big player in Mississauga’s real estate market and close friend of McCallion, Murray is one of the organizers of her annual arts gala. In 2008, Fennell moved that the police board buy a $6,000 table for McCallion’s gala that November.

Murray rejected any suggestion that there was a quid pro quo between them, yelling “that’s just insulting.”

Similar purchases were approved every year going back to 2006 for Fennell’s gala and at least 2000 for McCallion’s gala. Murray no longer sit on the police board, and Fennell did not respond to a request for comment.

Kolb, who has chaired the police board since 1996, acknowledged that the board routinely approves such purchases, but points out that it’s not tax-generated dollars being spent.

“It’s funds that come from crime funds. Not one red cent is taxpayer dollars.”

Under Ontario’s Civil Remedies Act, money and property forfeited because of criminal activity is to be deposited into a special account that may be disbursed as direct compensation to the victims — which can include municipalities and public bodies — and grants to programs that assist victims and help prevent victimization, including those run by law enforcement agencies.

Kolb said the money spent on tickets by the Peel police board has come out of its “Special Fund,” which he said is used to support things such as long service awards and children’s organizations. Asked how the mayors’ galas fit into those categories, he said there’s a specific policy about charities.

“I thought these were charities.”

Neither gala is, in fact, a registered charity, nor are the mayors’ fundraising golf tournaments, to which the police board has also routinely purchased foursome tickets at a cost of about $1,000 to $2,000 per tournament.

Murray, however, believes they are charitable causes. “The money goes back to the community,” he said, adding: “I have never, ever at a gala sat at the police board table.”

Controversy has recently surrounded both of the mayors’ annual galas, which are billed as private fundraisers. Fennell’s gala committee refused to disclose its finances until recently, and even then, after Fennell resigned as its chair, released only brief statements for two of the past five years.

Financial statements for McCallion’s gala, billed as an arts fundraiser, reveal that 80 per cent of the ticket price went to cover costs for the swanky events. Only a third of the remaining 20 per cent of receipts went directly to arts groups. There is also the possibility that the city improperly issued charitable receipts for donations that did not go directly to the city.

Kolb said he’s concerned by the recent news.

“I think, now that these issues have been raised, it’s disappointing to me. To hear that only 20 per cent is going to groups, that’s upsetting.”

As to buying tickets in future, he said: “It’s an issue now. I’m going to bring it up at the next meeting now that I know about these things.”

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Kolb said he had “no way of knowing how they (the galas) operated in the past.”

Sat Gosal said he’s voted in favour of the ticket purchases since he joined the police services board in 2008, but won’t support them any more.

“I would have no qualms about saying: ‘We don’t attend these events. We only attend events for policing, community safety and things such as anti-racism initiatives.’”

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