Justice minister noncommittal on push for independent police oversight in N.L. | CBC News

When it comes to independent police oversight, Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Minister John Hogan says he’s neutral.

“It’s not that I have any bias against it or any bias for it,” Hogan said Tuesday.

“I just want to make sure that what is done is the right thing to do for public safety in this province.”

Hogan said he has assembled a 10-person team within his department dedicated to policing and crime prevention. Examining civilian oversight of policing is one of their jobs, he added. The province allocated $1 million for the unit in the last budget. 

Until he’s presented with analysis and research on which police governance models work in other jurisdictions, Hogan said, he is reserving judgment.

“Comments like ‘we’re not looking at it’ or, you know, ‘the research has been done,’ I don’t think that’s accurate,” said Hogan.

A day earlier, Progressive Conservative justice critic Helen Conway Ottenheimer said the provincial government should move forward with independent oversight based on the knowledge it already has.

Hogan, though, said more needs to be done.

“We do have a report that looks at other provinces and how they do [oversight],” the minister said. “But we need to do an analysis to see, does it work?”

First Voice, an urban Indigenous advocacy group, delivered a report on police oversight to Hogan last October. One of the key recommendations was the implementation of a civilian-led police oversight commission.

“Based on an extensive jurisdictional scan, it is the opinion of the working group that Newfoundland and Labrador has among the weakest and least effective systems to ensure transparency and accountability of police,” the report said.

Hogan said officials will look at various systems to see what works and what doesn’t.

“What does that accountability look like in terms of policing? Who do they report to? Is it a civilian board? Is it a minister?” Hogan said. “Are there other hybrid models that exist that we need to look at?”

Furey, Hogan respond to former chief’s criticism

Premier Andrew Furey echoed Hogan’s comments Tuesday. 

“I can understand the feeling of urgency, I can understand the need, but we need to do make sure that we do this correctly and that requires a period of due diligence, and I’m confident that Minister Hogan will accomplish just that,” said Furey. 

Furey also disputed comments made by retired Royal Newfoundland Constabulary chief Joe Boland on Friday at a national conference of the Canadian Association of Police Governance.

Boland said the provincial government effectively froze him out, which resulted in his inability to lead the force.

“I was going out the door, and it started before that, but it was not responding to emails, not filling vacancies,” he said Friday. “I could not get vacancies filled. In effect, I could not run the RNC.”

Joe Boland breaks his silence on his departure from the RNC as police governance comes into sharp focus

The former chief of the RNC took part in a panel discussion Friday morning at the annual Canadian Association of Police Governance. Ariana Kelland reports.

Furey chalked that up to the period of time when the province was in caretaker mode. The 2021 election was called Jan. 15, with voting day set for Feb. 13. But proceedings devolved into pandemic-related chaos.

The province went into lockdown, with in-person voting cancelled hours before voters were set to go to the polls. Mail-in balloting was extended to March 25, with the results finally announced two days later. The new cabinet was sworn in on April 8.

“If you revisit that time in our history, we were under caretaker mode of government for three to four months, so there was no appointments being made,” said Furey.

“So I’m disappointed that he feels that way but I celebrate his service to the people of province. He did an incredible job serving the people of the province for 30 years.”

Hogan also dismissed comments by Boland that dealing with politicians and bureaucrats hampered efforts to establish independent oversight and clean up the force. 

“There’s certainly no political agenda, and there was no political agenda, and there never should be a political agenda about how any government deals with police forces in this province or anyone in this country,” said Hogan. 

The justice minister said the work of the police and crime prevention unit will take time — how much, he wouldn’t say. 

“I don’t want to commit to any certain timelines, but we’re not going to rush it.”

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