Ontario Restoring Respect for Police Officers in Halton and across Ontario.

Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act would fix broken Bill 175, restore fairness and accountability to police oversight

February 19, 2019

Oakville North-Burlington – Our local police officers in Halton Region work hard every day to keep us safe. I am proud that they will finally be able to count on a fair and transparent police oversight process that will always put public safety first. 

Today, Ontario’s Government for the People introduced new legislation, the Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, 2019. If passed, this legislation will finally fix the previous government’s Bill 175, which treated police with suspicion while making it increasingly difficult for them to do their jobs. 

The Act would streamline the SIU investigation process, which would have persisted under the previous Bill 175 and forced many police officers to labour under months- or years-long investigations even in cases where they had no contact with an individual. This takes a toll on police officers and their families.

If passed, the Act will enhance police oversight in Ontario by creating one window for public complaints, reducing delays in the investigation process, and ensuring more accountability.  By treating police fairly, the Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Actwill ensure the police, the government, and the people of Ontario remain partners in creating a more secure province.

Quotes by Effie Triantafilopoulos MPP

 

“Police officers in Halton Region work hard to protect our communities and to keep us safe each and every day. We take comfort knowing the police will respond to emergencies and prevent crime. We know their work can be risky and involves difficult decisions. That’s why our government is providing police with the tools, resources and support they need to keep our communities safe, stand up for victims and hold offenders accountable for their crimes. Our police work hard for us and now they can rely on a government that will have their back.”

 

Quick Facts

  • The government plans to introduce a new bill entitled the Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, 2019that would create the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019 and the Special Investigations Unit Act, 2019 to repeal and replace the Police Services Act, 2018, and the Ontario Special Investigations Unit Act, 2018. The bill would also repeal the Policing Oversight Act, 2018, and the Ontario Policing Discipline Tribunal Act, 2018.
  • First Nations policing provisions laid out in the Police Services Act, 2018, would be adopted providing First Nations communities with greater choice in how their policing services are delivered.
  • The amendments to the Police Services Act (1990) – the legislation currently in force – that add new community safety and well-being planning provisions and came into force on Jan. 1, 2019, would continue to be in force with a new provision requiring the participation of the local police service in the development of the plan.
  • The Missing Persons Act, 2018, and Forensic Laboratories Act, 2018, and the majority of the previous amendments to the Coroners Act would remain as passed in the Safer Ontario Act, 2018.
  • The new police oversight legislation would respond to Justice Tulloch’s recommendations in the Report of the Independent Police Oversight Review.
  • On February 13th, Minister Jones recommended Constable Volodymyr Zvezd’Onkin (54 Division) and Constable Hongfei Zhou (54 Division) for the Ontario Medal of Police Bravery for their courage in stopping the Danforth Shooter. The two officers had previously been subject to a 6 month investigation by the SIU.