The new statistics about Toronto police violence against people of colour is not a revelation, but the numbers do confirm what is generally accepted as truth. It is not the first time statistics on race and the Toronto police have caused such controversy. The following is a collection of stories connected by racism, violence, institutions, crime, and mysteries.
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In February 1989, a senior Toronto police officer publicly disclosed race-based crime statistics on the Jane-Finch area to demonstrate that the minority black population committed the large majority of crimes.
The disclosure was publicly denounced by black rights
activists and other critics as manipulated propaganda blaming black
people for crime instead of confronting underlying issues of poverty, lack of jobs, and unjust policing. Many
pointed out that this report stoked racism and further
damaged black relations with the police.
The Race Relations and Policing Task Force
The timing was also suspect. On December 8 1988, 17-year-old
Wade Lawson was shot in the back of the head by Peel Regional Police for
stealing a car. A few months earlier in August 1988, Toronto police shot dead
another black man, 44-year-old Lester Donaldson, who allegedly threatened police
with a knife.
Rejecting many calls for a public inquiry, the
Ontario Liberal Party created the “Race Relations and Policing Task Force”. When
the race-based crime stats were published in February 1989, the task force was
touring the province gathering testimony and conducting research into police
training, relations between “visible minorities and police”, and how police
used physical and deadly force.
Metro Toronto Police Chief Jack Marks denied the force kept race-based
data of this kind. Any statistics would have to have been done by the officer
in question who released the data.
The officer was Staff Inspector Julian Fantino.
The Police Services Act and Special Investigations Unit
Emerging from the Task Force's report was a new Police Services Act that became law in early 1990 over the opposition
of the NDP and PCs. The legislation included the establishment of new municipal
police boards, a province-wide public complaints system, new standardized
training programs, recognition of Indigenous police forces, and employment
equity rules. NDP criticisms focused on increased costs and the vague nature of the proposals.
A key component of the act was the establishment of the Special
Investigations Unit. A civilian would head the SIU and its mandate was to
investigate all serious injuries and deaths involving police officers.
From police chiefs to police unions, law enforcement opposed
the new legislation, declaring it the death of local policing and the centralization
of control under the provincial government.
Others viewed the formation of the SIU as a major step forward in policing police violence. Actvisits who pushed for civilian oversight of police were united on the necessity of SIU being a civilian operation independent of police forces.
Promotions
In July 1990, Premier David Peterson called an election. Riding above 50 percent support in the polls, Peterson was hoping to secure a new large majority only three years into his mandate. He was hoping to get ahead of the recession that was starting to unfold.
Instead, voters punished Peterson in September by electing an unprecedented New Democratic Party government. Bob Rae was now Premier of a majority social democratic government.
There was another winner during the election campaign. Julian
Fantino was promoted to Superintendent of Detectives.
The Wire
In March 1991, the new NDP government announced the appointment
of Susan Eng, a Chinese-Canadian lawyer, to chair the new Metro Police Services
Board now overseeing Canada’s largest municipal police force. A public critic of
the police, her appointment infuriated police brass and police associations.
In May 1991, within days of being sworn in as the new board's chair, Toronto police began a wiretap operation of Eng. Police were able to gather a year's worth of full-length private conversations of Eng's through a legal wiretap on Peter Maloney, a close lawyer friend of Eng’s whom the police accused of being a drug dealer. Making this drug dealer claim to a judge, the wiretap order was greenlighted but police ignored the judge's limits that would have protected Eng.
The wiretap lasted at least a year. It was also about a year before Maloney learned of the police allegations against him and the wiretap. He warned Eng their phone conversations might be recorded.
The Leak
The detective who made the tapes was Gerry Carter. In a
confidential 1992 report on the wiretaps leaked in 2007, Carter wrote that the Superintendent of Detectives Julian Fantino
had Maloney under surveillance because he was deemed a “security risk.” Carter said he was following orders when making the wiretap tapes of Eng.
Following the leak, Ron Sandelli, head of intelligence under Fantino’s command, said Carter was never directed by him to do anything, and that Carter conducted his own investigations. Carter said he was ordered to carry out the wiretaps and create the tapes.
William McCormack, who was Metro Toronto police chief at the time, claimed he heard rumours of Maloney’s drug dealing but did not know Maloney was being investigated. Fantino kept his mouth shut and refused to comment on anything. Carter left the force in 1995, and was later found guilty with stealing $47,000 from he police investigative fund. He was sentenced to one-year house arrest in 2002.
Riots
Maloney always believed he was targeted by police because of he was a prominent gay rights activist and lawyer, including spokesperson for the Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario. While he was the coalition’s spokesperson, Maloney came under legal persecution in the wake of the infamous 1981 Bathouse Raids in which Metro Toronto police arrested 286 men. The raid provoked a major demonstration and physical clashes with police in downtown Toronto and march on Metro Police's 52 Division. This protest and "riot" is widelt regarded as the birth of Pride in Toronto.
A year to the month after Carter’s wiretap started, 22-year-old Jamaican man Raymond Lawrence was shot dead by Peel Regional Police. Police claimed he approached them with a knife. A protest was called by the Black Action Defence Committee in downtown Toronto on May 4. It was the same day authorities declared the Los Angeles Riots over.
The rally drew about 500 people and then marched on police headquarters. Picking up hundreds of people on Yonge Street, a riot exploded, windows were smashed and black and white youth looted stores.
A
year later, the SIU cleared Constable Robert Rice in the shooting death of Raymond
Lawrence.
SIU under siege
In late 1991, Fantino had left Toronto for London, Ontario where
he became the new police chief. By early 1993, he was publicly attacking the
SIU for “incompetency at its highest level and an absolute lack of professional
courtesy”. Fantino demanded a public inquiry.
“I don’t trust the unit and I don’t believe they have the capacity
or the good will with which to do the job handed them.
“To me, (the unit) is one of the greatest frauds being perpetrated
on this province in a hell of a long time.”
To attack the SIU, Fantino used the case of London police constable Bruce Charteris who shot a suspect in the leg and waited eight months to be cleared. Fantino called Charteris a “hero” who had co-operated with the SIU.
SIU's civilian director Howard Morton disputed Fantino’s claims, saying Charteris
never answered investigators’ questions. Morton said Charteris instead submitted a written
statement to a superior officer who in turn wrote a report for SIU's investigation.
Fantino’s former superior, Metro Toronto police chief William
McCormack, was also locked in public battle with Morton. The dispute was
whether or not the Police Service Act required police officers to cooperate
with SIU investigations. McCormack invoked an officer’s right to remain silent. Morton countered that such rights were limited by an officers’ duty to account for
their actions.
Project Guardian
In the fall of 1993, Fantino was back in the news again making
major headlines. As London’s police chief, he declared the force had cracked what he claimed was Canada’s largest-ever child pornography ring. After a cache of
over 200 video cassette tapes said to contain child pornography were discovered in a lake just outside London, the
London police arrested two men. With a major press conference showing stacks of videotapes, Fantino secured special provincial funding to launch a two-year special investigation called “Project Guardian”.
During Project Guardian, several London men were convicted of charges relating to sex with a minor, prostitution, and drug possession. None of the charges were linked to the alleged child pornography ring. In fact, no child pornography ring was ever discovered.
Gay rights
activists denounced Fantino’s “Project Guardian” as persecution and criminalization
of homosexuals. London police did make numerous arrests of gay men in parks, many of whom
were young men living on the street. At least one of those arrested committed
suicide.
The Death of Tony Vega
Meanwhile, Morton came under increasing scrutiny as Director
of the SIU. The Charteris case already had police chiefs and the 20,000-strong
Police Association of Ontario attacking the SIU for their months-long investigations. Public police criticisms mounted through 1993.
Towards the end of the year, the Toronto police released a
report accusing Morton of advising the family of Luis Antonio Vega on suing the
Toronto police. The 28-year-old Vega was shot dead by Metro Toronto police
officer Timothy Gallant on December 26 1992. Vega was drunk and said to have
attacked with a knife before Gallant fired three times. Morton denied giving any such
advice to the Vega family.
Citing the Charter of Rights, Gallant refused to talk to investigators. Even the Attorney General Howard Hampton said police refusing to speak to the SIU were breaking the law. Eleven months later, Gallant faced no charges and was cleared.
Despite the SIU criticizing police conduct, Morton released
an unusual 10-page statement on the decision declaring Gallant’s actions to be
honest and reasonable, but criticizing the police for sharing statements with a
police lawyer before the SIU had even conducted interviews with the officers.
The Vega family was not happy.
Howard Morton
Morton’s tight-rope walk as SIU Director began with his
appointment by the NDP government in August 1992. Morton was a senior Crown
counsel in the Attorney General office and was widely recognized as a reformer
with regards to criminal law and policing. Police were furious at Morton’s
appointment. Morton was an outspoken opponent of the use of force except in cases
of serious threats of bodily harm.
“If there is no danger to the public or the police officer
then we’re just going to have to let that person temporarily escape,” he said
to a legislative committee when asked about use of deadly force against
suspects. He was also an advocate of training police in non-lethal dispute
resolution.
Facing immediate police criticism, Morton publicly admitted that the long delays in SIU cases were a genuine problem. However, Morton pointed out that short-staffing
and the refusal of police to speak with investigators were the reasons for the delays. The SIU only had 12
investigators, some of them part-time. The budget was $1.8 million.
Untrue Detective
December 1993 was an important turning point for Morton who had largely held his ground publicly against police criticism and sandbagging of investigations. That month, Gallant was cleared but then the Toronto police allegations of aiding Vega's family were levelled against Morton.
Then the real damage was done. One of the SIU’s investigators, former Florida
cop Fred Edward Winston, was discovered to have lied about being a homicide
investigator. He had in fact been fired from a small county police force over
insurance fraud. It was a massive blow to SIU's credibility and police seized on it.
Also in December, former Halton Regional Police chief James Harding to oversee the SIU’s investigative operations. Harding was hired to help dig Morton out of the crisis. Harding’s stated goals were quick resolution to investigations, appointing qualified and hired investigators, and allowing police the right to obtain legal advice.
Harding was sent a stern message from Ontario’s
senior officers’ organization. “When Mr. Harding delivers on his promises, then
we’ll support him.”
It wasn’t a secret what was happening to the SIU. The new
Attorney General Marion Boyd said, “there is very much an effort, an ongoing
effort, to try to discredit the unit.” Boyd said she would argue for more
resources and staff for the SIU to expedite investigations.
Morton's Last Days
The Winston scandal would not die. First demoted and then
fired, opposition Liberal and PC politicians and pundits called for the SIU
abolition, or at least a radical overhaul. The police in particular went for the
jugular. The head of the Ottawa Police Association called the SIU a “complete
farce”. The Ontario Police Association said SIU had “no credibility” and reiterated
the argument that Charter rights meant police officers did not have to speak to
SIU investigators. A Sgt. Paul Bailey of York Region Police said Morton’s job
would become a “nightmare” if a law was passed compelling officers to speak
with SIU investigators.
Morton commissioned a report which found SIU suffered from underfunding,
under-staffing, inexperienced investigators and poor administrative practices.
While police said that skilled police investigators should be hired on to SIU, grassroots
organizations said the SIU had to be independent of police.
The SIU limped along. By the end of 1994, it was reportedly
down to six investigators and facing a lawsuit for a 14-month delay in clearing
an Ottawa constable for a 1992 shooting. Without the resources it needed, it had three local police forces investigate a high-speed OPP chase that resulted in a 4-year-old child being injured.
In March 1995, with a provincial election looming, Morton was fired by Bob Rae and reassigned as the Attorney General’s special advisor on anti-racism. The police forces in Ontario pressed ahead after the decapitation of SIU. They focused efforts on lobbying the Ontario PC Party led by Mike Harris for an overhaul of the SIU. The tough-on-crime Harris, who talked of sending young offenders to "boot camp" and decried incompetent government bureaucracy, listened to police intently.
Charles Roach of the Black Action Defence Committee said the
SIU and civilian oversight had been significantly weakened, and warned of the
consequences: “What they’re doing is a real recipe for unrest.” Antoni Shelton,
an activist with the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, said “We don’t want to
see this power rest with police chiefs who can simply say there is no wrongdoing,
thank you very much.”
"Get the fucking Indians out of the park"
Following the election of Mike Harris and the Ontario PC
Party in June 1995, the SIU was placed under an interim director and the SIU
controversy dissipated. Despite restructuring, there was no expectation anymore
that officers had to speak to investigators.
In September 1995, Dudley George, 38, was murdered by the
OPP during a raid on the peaceful Ipperwash occupation of stolen Indigenous
land. After a 10-month SIU investigation, Acting Sargeant and OPP sniper
Kenneth “Tex” Deane was charged with criminal negligence causing death. He was
convicted in 1997 and handed a two-year community sentence, including 180 hours
of community service.
At Queen’s Park on June 4 1996, former Attorney General
Howard Hampton asked the government who in the Premier’s office gave the instruction
to “Get the fucking Indians out of the park”. Hampton said it was “widely
reported within the civil service as having been made by someone connected with
the Premier’s office.” Harnick did not answer the question. A day later,
Hampton asked again and Harnick, while not denying the statement was made, said
he did not know who made it.
When the Ontario PCs were kicked out office in 2003, the Ontario Liberal government delivered on the promise of an Ipperwash Inquiry, Less than a year after Julian Fantino was appointed Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, Harnick testified at the inquiry in late November 2005 that Harris himself had made the infamous remark. Asked by the inquiry why he had lied at Queen’s Park, Harnick said it was out of loyalty and friendship to Harris as well as political expendiency and partisanship. Asked why he was telling the inquiry a different story than in 1996, Harnick explained that he was now under oath.
Near Prescott
Harnick’s testimony caused massive controversy and cemented a popular view that Harris was directly involved in the Ipperwash raid despite a decade old denials from Harris. Harris testified between February 17 and 20, 2006. He denied saying what Harnick attributed to him, and said he wouldn’t do anything differently. Harris walked away from the inquiry and has never faced any criminal charges or legal consequences.
Kenneth Deane was scheduled
to testify within a few weeks of Harris. Deane had apologized to George’s
family in 2001 and was subsequently forced to resign from the OPP in 2002.
Five days after Harris' last appearance at the Inquiry, on Saturday, February 25 at 1pm, Deane was driving on
Highway 401 near Prescott. Slowing in white-out conditions, a semi-truck
smashed into the back of Deane’s Ford Explorer. Deane, 44, was pronounced dead
on the scene. A passenger, an unnamed 38-year-old man reported to be a
co-worker from Alberquerque, New Mexico, was taken to Brockville General where
he was declared to be in stable condition.
Carnage Alley
Deane was the third OPP officer involved in the fateful Ipperwash
raid to have died in a road accident.
On June 7, 2000 OPP Sargeant Margaret Eve, 38, was in one of
three OPP cruisers that pulled over a robbery suspect on the 65-kilometre stretch
of the 401 near Chatham known as “Carnage Alley”. Only the previous September,
eight people had been killed in an 87-vehicle collision. In December, Eve was first to arrive at the scene of an OPP officer killed on the side of Carnage Alley.
While out of her vehicle, Eve and two other officers were struck by a tractor trailer that hit the police cruisers and the vehicle they pulled over. Eve suffered massive head injuries and died two days later at a London, Ontario hospital. Terry DeMerchant, 26, was charged, then released on $5,000 bail.
The vehicle that was pulled over was cleared of suspicion for robbery. Two years later, DeMerchant was cleared of all charges. The judge cited Eve’s vehicle being parked 1.1 metres into the roadway.
Inspector Bill Linton, the night watch commander overseeing the Ipperwash raid, was killed while driving on Highway 43 just four kilometres west of Smiths Falls on the evening of Saturday, September 30, 2000. Linton was 49. A civilian media officer, Lori Berger, 30, was also killed in the crash.
Both Linton and Berger were off-duty. Linton was reported to have veered over the median in his westbound Chevrolet and crashed into an oncoming Ford vehicle. Linton had been reassigned to Smiths Falls in October 1995, only weeks after the Ipperwash raid.
Civilian life
In 2010, Fantino stepped down as OPP Commissioner to run in
a by-election and join Harper’s government. Fantino was defeated in 2015 and
went into the cannabis business.
Under Premier Mike Harris, SIU restructuring resulted in a clear policy that police no longer had to speak to SIU investigators. This policy remain in place today.