Province Moving Forward With Largest Policing Transformation in a Generation
Ontario is working to build stronger, safer communities by modernizing Ontario’s policing framework to make it more community-focused, accountable, sustainable, and culturally responsive.
Today, Marie-France Lalonde, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and Attorney General Yasir Naqvi announced that the government will introduce the Safer Ontario Act, 2017. The bill is a comprehensive community safety legislative package that, if passed, would represent the largest policing and public safety transformation in a generation.
The proposed measures would modernize our approach to community safety, and improve police oversight and accountability. They respond to the needs and realities of Ontario’s diverse communities and would mandate local community safety and well-being planning. The goal is to build a province where all residents feel protected and safe in their homes and communities.
The proposed legislation would transform Ontario’s policing framework by:
- Shifting to a collaborative approach to community safety and well-being planning where municipalities would have a larger role in defining and addressing local needs. By focusing on local needs, vulnerable populations can receive the help they need, when and where they need it most – by the providers best suited to help them. Municipalities will be mandated to work with police services and local service providers in health care, social services and education to develop community safety and well-being plans that proactively address community safety concerns.
- Enhancing police accountability to the public by creating a new Inspector General of Police with a mandate to oversee and monitor police services and police service boards. All board members would be required to complete training, including diversity training. Reporting requirements for boards would also be strengthened. The province is also updating the police disciplinary process, including setting new rules for suspension without pay for police officers accused of serious criminal wrongdoing.
- Strengthening the police oversight system by:
- Expanding and clarifying the mandates of the three oversight bodies
- Establishing strong penalties for officers who do not comply with investigations
- Setting strict timelines for investigations and public reporting
- Releasing more information about the results of investigations and disciplinary hearings by oversight agencies.
- Outlining police responsibilities and community safety service delivery. For the first time, duties that can only be performed by a sworn police officer will be defined in regulation. The new act would ensure police education, training, and standards are consistent across the province, and would create a Public Safety Institute as a centre of excellence to inform the delivery of police services, support evidence-based decision making, and conduct leading edge research.
- Supporting the sustainability of First Nations policing by enabling First Nations to choose their policing service delivery mode, including the option to come under the same legislative framework as the rest of Ontario. This would ensure First Nations receive culturally responsive, sustainable, accountable, and equitable policing that has the flexibility to address specific community needs on their own terms.
The proposed legislation would also:
- Create a new Missing Persons Act to give police new tools when responding to missing persons occurrences where there is no evidence of criminal activity. These changes would allow police to respond more quickly and effectively to missing persons investigations.
- Change the Coroners Act to improve Ontario’s inquest system by requiring that inquests be mandatory when a police officer, special constable or other officer’s use of force is the direct cause of a death.
- Require forensic lab accreditation by creating a provincial accreditation framework so that forensic laboratories across the province have common operational standards through a new Forensic Laboratories Act. Accreditation would ensure a system of quality management for forensic laboratories that includes proficiency testing, annual audits, performance reports, surveillance visits, management reviews and a code of conduct.
Supporting safe, healthy communities is part of our plan to grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.
Quick Facts
- The proposed legislation represents the first comprehensive review and amendment of the Police Services Act since 1990.
- Since 2003, Ontario’s crime rate has dropped by 34 per cent and Ontario’s violent crime rate dropped by 27 per cent.
- Ontario continues to report the lowest crime rate in Canada.
- The proposed legislative changes are part of the government’s commitment to build stronger, safer communities through its Strategy for a Safer Ontario, and respond to the recommendations made in the Independent Police Oversight Review conducted by Justice Tulloch and released in April 2017.
- The new Forensic Services Act responds to the need for greater oversight of forensic testing identified in the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology conducted by Justice Goudge, 2007, and to the Report of the Motherisk Hair Analysis Independent Review conducted by Justice Lang, 2017.
Background Information
Additional Resources
- Policing in Ontario
- Community safety and well-being planning
Quotes
“Community safety starts in the community with a proactive approach that focuses on well-being. The changes we are proposing represent the largest transformation to Ontario’s policing and community safety in over 25 years, and will result in even stronger, safer communities.”
“Today, we are announcing the most significant changes to the police oversight system since it was first created. By expanding and clarifying the three agencies’ mandates, introducing new timelines and penalties, and increasing public reporting we are building a more accountable and transparent policing oversight system. The changes we are proposing will help ensure there is trust and respect between the police and the communities they serve.”
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