The hiring of Eric Stubbs, an assistant commissioner of the RCMP, as new chief of the Ottawa Police Service was introduced Friday.
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The irony of the Ottawa Police Providers Board’s determination to rent a brand new chief amid a storm of controversy simply days earlier than a municipal election isn’t misplaced on Diane Deans, former chair of the board.
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Metropolis council ousted Deans from her function as chair after she employed an outsider, Matt Torigian, former chief of the Waterloo Regional Police Service, to take the helm of the Ottawa Police Service after Peter Sloly’s resignation in the course of the “Freedom Convoy” protests in February.
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Deans obtained criticism for going via with the rent at a time when the police service was in tumult, regardless that the police board is solely answerable for the hiring of the chief.
On Friday, Eli El-Chantiry, who was appointed chair of the board as Deans’ successor, introduced the hiring of Eric Stubbs, an assistant commissioner with the RCMP in British Columbia, as chief-select, ignoring calls from some metropolis councillors, mayoral candidates and even a member of the police board to attend till after the municipal election on Monday.
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“I don’t suppose the irony of what occurred right here was misplaced on the general public in any respect,” Deans mentioned in an interview on Saturday, “the double commonplace that they’ve exhibited via this course of and thru unseating me because the chair of that police board, destabilizing the police board, after which piling ahead with a distinct algorithm making use of to them.”
Deans mentioned she had hoped Torigian may function chief till the municipal election, after which a brand new police board, which would come with three metropolis councillors, may select a brand new chief consistent with their values.
“I actually consider the brand new board will chart their very own course,” Deans mentioned. “They are going to set out within the early days a strategic course that they need to take policing in Ottawa, a high-level plan for the place they need to go and the place their priorities space, and, actually, it’s best to match the chief to the form of course you need to take.”
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Jeff Leiper, a member of the police providers board looking for re-election as a metropolis councillor in Kitchissippi ward, additionally mentioned he disagreed with the board’s determination to announce the hiring of a brand new chief 72 hours earlier than the municipal election. He mentioned in a press release he would have most well-liked for the hiring to be accomplished after the election.
Leiper acknowledged that the hiring of the chief was the accountability of the board, unbiased of metropolis council.
“However, council appoints 4 members of the PSB (three councillors and one citizen consultant), and the province appoints three,” he famous. “The mayor has a assured seat on the desk by advantage of their workplace as a part of the 4 municipal appointees. The present mayor has declined to take that seat.
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“My view has been that we’re on the eve of an election. With policing points within the foreground of this election, voters can have a chance to ship candidates who mirror their priorities round policing to Metropolis Corridor. A brand new council and mayor will deliver their perspective, recent from the doorways, to the duty of appointing new or returning municipal members to the Police Providers Board, which can or could not have had implications for this hiring course of, had the board waited.”
Leiper had been on trip in July, he wrote, when the police providers board voted to proceed with the hiring course of.
“That vote was unanimous in my absence. I’d have dissented as the only real vote in opposition to and I’ve continued to precise my desire that the board maintain off on a choice, however I abide by majority rule,” he wrote.
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“Because the course of started, I’ve participated within the hiring course of regardless of my disagreement on the timing. My focus via the method has been to rent a chief who I consider will finest serve the general public curiosity.”
Leiper mentioned Stubbs had his help and he was trying ahead to working with the soon-to-be chief on bettering policing in Ottawa.
The timing of the appointment additionally continued to divide mayoral candidates.
“I’ve all the time maintained that the choice of a brand new police chief is an unbiased course of. It isn’t as much as the mayor and council to resolve who this particular person is,” Mark Sutcliffe mentioned in a media launch on Friday. “It’s the unbiased police providers board, which incorporates representatives from a number of ranges of presidency in addition to citizen representatives.”
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Catherine McKenney had urged the police providers board to not rent a brand new chief till after the election, however was able to work with Stubbs.
“The priority with this course of has by no means been about who’s being employed,” McKenney mentioned in a press release. “It’s concerning the course of unfolding days earlier than an election and in the course of a nationwide inquiry. The wave of criticism from most people has additional illustrated how this course of was inappropriate.”
As an assistant commissioner for the RCMP in B.C., Stubbs spent 5 years serving as that drive’s legal operations officer, overseeing 125 detachments throughout the province. His tenure included overseeing efforts to battle rising gang violence within the Decrease Mainland area and controversial RCMP responses to protests.
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Horizon Ottawa, a progressive advocacy group and registered third-party advertiser for the municipal election in Ottawa, criticized the choice of Stubbs.
He’s purported to renew belief in the neighborhood, a Horizon Ottawa media launch mentioned.
“Whereas in command of Core Legal Operations for the B.C. RCMP, Stubbs ostensibly performed a pivotal function within the a number of raids on Moist’suwet’en land since 2019 and defended the arresting of journalists in the course of the raids,” the group wrote.
“If that is the Board’s try at ‘regaining our belief’ they’ve failed,” mentioned Sam Hersh, a Horizon Ottawa board member. “We’re not sure how a police chief who performed an enormous function in raids of Indigenous territory is meant to make BIPOC and different equity-seeking communities in Ottawa really feel secure … fairly the other.”
