Realities of new OPP board yet to be seen

Whether a single, consolidated police service board for rural communities outside Thunder Bay will be better, worse or more expensive than the previous arrangement remains a question mark, those affected by the decision say. "We'll have to wait and see how it goes," Shuniah Mayor Wendy Landry said this week. "It's a big group that we're with now." Police service boards advise police forces about community needs, and what locals would like to see officers focus on. Shuniah, which is policed under contract by officers based at Thunder Bay's Ontario Provincial Police detachment, had for many years its own police service board. But about five years ago, the province said that in parts of the province served by the OPP, it wanted to have police service boards align with regional OPP detachment boundaries rather than specific municipalities. Doing so would help police service boards to be independent and not merely extensions of municipal councils, supporters said. The initiative resulted in the Community Safety and Policing Act, which took effect this year on April 1. Rural Thunder Bay communities wanted to stick with having two police service boards "but the province decided that there would only be one detachment board," a source told The Chronicle-Journal. A spokesman for Ontario's Solicitor General office would only say "the ministry consulted with police services, police service boards and other organizations as part of the development of the act and its regulations." For rural Thunder Bay communities, the change means that Shuniah's police service board is effectively being merged with members of the outgoing Lakehead Police Service board. The latter board has served three other OPP-policed communities: Conmee, O'Connor and Neebing. The single, regional Thunder Bay OPP police service board, to consist of 13 members, will represent the following communities: Conmee, Gillies, Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek First Nation (Gull Bay), Lac Des Mille Lacs First Nation, Neebing, O'Connor and Shuniah. "We didn't receive confirmation of the final makeup of the detachment board until March 8," Neebing clerk-treasurer Erika Kromm said. "It will take a bit of time before the board has been fully appointed," Kromm said. "Each member must undergo a criminal record check, be appointed by their council and complete mandatory training." She added: "It will likely be a greater expense to the municipalities, but it is too early to know what the true financial impact will be." Oliver Paipoonge is not impacted because it's policed by Thunder Bay Police Service. Thunder Bay and neighbouring Oliver Paipoonge are the only Northwestern Ontario municipalities that are not policed by the OPP.

Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, The Chronicle-Journal