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• All 100 Ipperwash Recommendations

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POLICE:

PART 1 OF THE IPPERWASH INQUIRY

2. Police planning for responding to an Aboriginal occupation or protest should include:

a. a communication strategy for important messages that ought to be conveyed to the occupiers;

b. the technical aspects of how the police would communicate with the occupiers; and

c. specified people outside the police service who could effectively communicate with the occupiers.

3. Police services should ensure:

a. that the intelligence unit of the police service is engaged and operating and has adequate resources and procedures for collection, collation and evaluation of information;

b. that reports are reduced to writing in a timely manner whether initially transmitted verbally or not;

c. that intelligence data is subject to analysis and reliability assessment;

d. that there is a single repository through which intelligence data flows to the Incident Commander;

e. that the leader of the intelligence unit or his or her designate reports directly to the Incident Commander; and

f. that the Incident Commanders and other senior personnel receive training in intelligence.

4. All telephone calls to and from the command post should be recorded and minutes should be kept of all meetings of the Incident Commander. Incident Commanders should continue to be accountable for the keeping of accurate, detailed notes at the time of events.

6. Incident Commanders must exercise discretion as to what political information is shared with his or her senior officers and be alert to the perception of political influence when exercising his or her discretion. There should be a buffer between the Incident Commander and politicians whether from the federal, provincial or local orders of government.

8. The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the OPP should develop written protocols that clearly delineate the appropriate functions of police officers seconded to provincial ministries. In addition, politicians and civil servants should be briefed on the appropriate role of seconded officers. [Shared responsibility]

9. Public order policing strategies should ensure that they address the uniqueness of Aboriginal occupations and protests, with particular emphasis on the historical, legal and behavioural differences of such incidents. Training should focus on the requirements for peacekeeping, communication, negotiation and building trust before, during and after such incidents.

10. The OPP should take measures to ensure that communications between officers regarding tactical decisions and intelligence remain secure and not subject to interception by others.

11. The OPP should ensure the involvement of First Nation police services and the assistance of First Nation mediators when it responds to Aboriginal occupations and protests.

12. The OPP should ensure that the names and badge numbers of officers at public order events should continue to be inscribed visibly and prominently on outer clothing or helmets.

13. The OPP should ensure that when the Public Order Unit (”POU”) is deployed the incident commander is located with the POU at the site and not in the command post.

14. Police should ensure that known or available information about the circumstances of the injury and the medical history of the patient is conveyed to medical personnel and hospital staff who transport and/or treat the patient.

16. The OPP should issue a public apology to Cecil Bernard George for the use of excessive force in the form of blows to his head and face at the hands of one or more unidentified police officers during the course of his detainment and arrest in the sandy parking lot during the evening of September 6th, 1995, leading to injuries which required medical treatment. The apology should be delivered in person by the current Commissioner, or his delegate, and via a press release and conference.

18. Subject to recommendation 68 in Volume 2, whenever there are allegations of racism (including a failure by other officers to report), they should be dealt with by way of formal discipline, with all the protections and safeguards accorded by the discipline process.

PART 2 OF THE IPPERWASH INQUIRY

Chapter 9 – Policing Aboriginal Occupations

38. Police services in Ontario should promote peacekeeping by adopting the following objectives when policing Aboriginal occupations and protests:

a. Minimize the risk of violence at occupations and protests.

b. Preserve and restore public order.

c. Facilitate the exercise of constitutionally protected rights.

d. Remain neutral as to the underlying grievance.

e. Facilitate the building of trusting relationships that will assist the parties to resolve the dispute constructively.

39. The OPP should maintain its Framework for Police Preparedness for Aboriginal Critical Incidents, Aboriginal Relations Teams, and related initiatives as a high priority and devote a commensurate level of resources and executive support to them.

40. The OPP should commission independent, third-party evaluations of its Framework for Police Preparedness for Aboriginal Critical Incidents and Aboriginal Relations Team program. These evaluations should include significant and meaningful participation by Aboriginal representatives in their design, oversight, and analysis.

41. The OPP should post all significant OPP and provincial government documents and policies regarding the policing of Aboriginal occupations and protests on the OPP website. The OPP should also prepare and distribute an annual report on the Framework for Police Preparedness for Aboriginal Critical Incidents.

42. The OPP should establish a formal consultation committee with major Aboriginal organizations in Ontario.

43. The OPP should develop a consultation and liaison policy regarding non-Aboriginal communities which may be affected by an Aboriginal occupation or protest. This policy should be developed in consultation with local non-Aboriginal communities and should be distributed to local officials and posted on the OPP website.

44. The OPP should develop a strategy to restore relationships with both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities after an Aboriginal occupation or protest. The provincial, federal, and municipal governments should support and participate in this strategy. This strategy should be distributed to interested parties and posted on the OPP website.

48. The OPP should have the right to be represented separately in injunction proceedings. The provincial government should facilitate court-appointed counsel for interested parties in injunction proceedings if their participation would contribute to the court’s understanding of the issues in dispute.

51. Federal, provincial, municipal, and First Nation governments should actively promote public education and community information about significant Aboriginal protests. The OPP should also actively promote public education and community information. [Shared responsibility]

53. The provincial government, First Nations organizations, the OPP, and other police services in Ontario should develop networks promoting communication, understanding, trust, and collaboration during Aboriginal occupations and protests. The following elements should be included in this effort:

a. The OPP and First Nations organizations in Ontario should develop public safety, communications, and/or operational protocols.

b. The OPP and First Nations police services should jointly plan for responding to Aboriginal occupations and protests. Existing protocols between the OPP and First Nation police services should be amended to include references to occupations and protests.

c. The provincial government, the OPP, and representatives from municipal police services should develop resources, practices, or protocols to assist municipal police services during Aboriginal occupations and protests in urban areas.

d. The OPP and the Ministry of Natural Resources should develop an operational protocol consistent with the purposes and practices in the OPP Framework for Police Preparedness for Aboriginal Critical Incidents.

e. The OPP should provide crisis negotiator training to First Nations police services. [Shared responsibility]

54. The OPP and other police services should provide verified information to the media in their news releases. Inaccurate information should be corrected promptly and publicly.

Chapter 10 – First Nation Policing

57. The provincial government, OPP, and First Nation police services should work together to identify how the provincial government can support First Nation police services to be as effective as possible when policing Aboriginal occupations and protests, either within their own territories or in support of the OPP or other police services in Ontario. The OPP and First Nation police services should engage in joint planning and training for Aboriginal occupations and protests and existing protocols should refer to occupations and protests. [Shared responsibility]

61. The provincial government, First Nation police services, and the OPP should establish an Ontario First Nation Chiefs of Police Association. [Shared responsibility]

57. The provincial government, OPP, and First Nation police services should work together to identify how the provincial government can support First Nation police services to be as effective as possible when policing Aboriginal occupations and protests, either within their own territories or in support of the OPP or other police services in Ontario. The OPP and First Nation police services should engage in joint planning and training for Aboriginal occupations and protests and existing protocols should refer to occupations and protests. [Shared responsibility]

61. The provincial government, First Nation police services, and the OPP should establish an Ontario First Nation Chiefs of Police Association. [Shared responsibility]

Chapter 11 – Bias-Free Policing

63. The OPP should maintain its Native Awareness Training and related police/Aboriginal relations initiatives as a high priority and devote a commensurate level of resources and executive support to them.

64. The OPP should develop active, ongoing monitoring strategies for its police/Aboriginal relations strategy and programs, including:

a. commissioning an independent, third-party evaluation of its Native Awareness Training and recruitment initiatives;

b. commissioning data collection studies to evaluate police decision-making and operations.

These studies should be designed in partnership with First Nation organizations and the Ontario Provincial Police Association, if possible; and

c. working with First Nations organizations to develop a more formal monitoring and implementation program for the OPP police/Aboriginal programs.

70. The OPP should establish an internal process to ensure that racist and other culturally insensitive behaviour by police officers is dealt with publicly. The OPP should also determine the most appropriate policy for handling complaints of misconduct involving racism and other culturally insensitive conduct, including the role, if any, for informal discipline.

Chapter 12 – Police/Government Relations

75. The OPP should post relevant ministerial directives on its website, circulate them to the OPP advisory committees, and make them available to the public upon request.

76. The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the OPP should adopt complementary formal policies that set out their respective roles, responsibilities, and mutual expectations in police/government relations. These policies should adopt the principles and findings on police/government relations outlined in this report, including specific provisions on the following issues:

– The core of ”police independence”

– The ”policy of operations”

– Police operational responsibilities

– Government policy responsibilities

– Information exchanges between police and government

– Dedicated procedures that will be used to manage police/government relations during a critical incident [Shared responsibility]

77. All senior officials within the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the OPP should be briefed or trained on these policies. Other government officials should be briefed as necessary. These policies should also be posted on the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and OPP websites and be made publicly available upon request. [Shared responsibility]

78. The OPP should establish policies and procedures to insulate operational decision-makers, incident commanders, and front-line officers from inappropriate government direction or advice.

Compiled by: Maynard “Sam” George and Monica Virtue (March 2008)

To view the original Final Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry please visit:

http://www.ipperwashinquiry.ca