Truth and Reconciliation Commission chair to probe Thunder Bay police
The man who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that condemned Canada’s history with residential schools will now oversee a probe into a northwestern Ontario city’s police services board as the community grapples with tensions between its police force and Indigenous residents.
The Ontario Civilian Police Commission says Sen. Murray Sinclair will lead an investigation into the Thunder Bay Police Services Board, which is responsible for a force that has come under fire from local Indigenous leaders in recent months.
Several northwestern Ontario chiefs have criticized police handling of the deaths of local youths in the city, going so far as to ask the RCMP to take over the investigations.
In May, the OCPC agreed to a request from one local leader to open an investigation into the police services board.