‘No rational reason’ why changes haven’t been implemented at Manitoba’s police watchdog after three years: former director

A bill aimed at strengthening the powers of Manitoba’s police watchdog, including the power to discipline officers who don’t comply with their requests, has been on the shelf for nearly three years.

The years-long delay is frustrating for family members whose loved ones were killed by police and want assurances that Manitoba’s independent investigative unit can do its job properly.

“They recognize there is a problem. You spend time looking for solutions and then they don’t implement them?” said Gerry Singer, whose 59-year-old brother, Bradley, was fatally shot by Winnipeg police at his home in February of this year after officers attempted to take him to hospital for a non-voluntary assessment under the province’s Mental Health Act.

“He missed the doctor’s appointment,” Gerry said of why police were called to his brother’s home.

The police watchdog is currently investigating his death.

The delay in legislation “makes me feel like the public doesn’t matter,” Gerry Singer said. “And it’s all just to get re-elected.”

The bill was introduced in November 2021, following several cases in which the legal limitations of the investigative unit came under scrutiny.

The citizen-led agency, charged with investigating all serious incidents involving police officers in Manitoba, was created following a revision of Manitoba’s Police Service Act.

In 2018, email exchanges between the watchdog and Winnipeg’s police chief revealed that Zane Tessler, the IIU’s first civilian director, had raised concerns that police forces were failing to flag incidents and preventing cadets from being interviewed.

In 2019, the unit took the Winnipeg Police Service to court refused to hand over the banknotes of two cadets who witnessed a fatal Taser encounter. Police argued that the cadets fell outside the IIU’s investigative powers.

Tessler was the director of the Independent Investigation Unit when the then-Progressive Conservative government introduced the bill proposing IIU changes in 2021.

It passed second, first and third readings and received royal assent on June 1, 2022 – the steps required for a bill to become law – but it was never promulgated.

“And it is now November 2024. … Nothing has changed,” said Tessler, who retired in 2023 after a decade at the helm of IIU.

“It is designed to increase the powers of the IIU. There’s no rational reason why it’s there.”

The proposed changes would require people associated with a police department — such as a cadet or community safety officer — to comply with requests from IIU investigators.

They would also allow the unit to impose fines or prison sentences for most police officers who fail to comply with its “reasonable” requests, and ban the IIU from seconding active police officers as investigators.

The watchdog agency is now preparing to welcome its third civilian director since its creation in 2013. Roxanne Gagné, who took over from Tessler, will leave her position in July 2023. The new director has not been publicly announced.

The disappointed PC bill has not yet been promulgated

MLA Wayne Balcaen, the justice critic for the current Opposition Progressive Conservatives, said it is disappointing that the NDP government has not promulgated the legislation.

The Tories lost power at the October 2023 election, while rules were being drawn up to pass the bill into law.

Balcaen, the former chief of Brandon police, said in a prepared statement that the bill was a “very important initiative” and that everyone should be held to the highest standard — which is why the Tories wanted to ensure the IIU had the tools has to do his job.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe says his government has been working to introduce the legislation over the past year.

“We are working as quickly as possible to get this out,” Wiebe said, but it involves a complex set of policy changes and the government must “take the time to make sure we get this right.”

The bill will be promulgated early in the new year, Wiebe said, but he did not commit to a specific timetable.

Tessler said that while the legislation wasn’t perfect, it would have helped by “providing better clarity and giving the IIU better access to information,” he said.

“It would make things a little smoother, and we would hopefully avoid having to litigate things that we had to do in the past to get cooperation.”

LOOK | Three years later, the bill proposing IIU changes has still not been implemented:

But Brian Glazer, who represents the Singer family, said the amendments don’t go far enough. His clients have been waiting since February for answers about what happened to Bradley.

“Someone has lost their life. Yet it seems to take a long time before the family gets answers or even a preliminary report,” Glazer said.

He argues there should be a set deadline for the IIU to complete a public report, legal timelines for when the unit meets with affected family members and deadlines for when autopsy reports are made public.

“Changes need to be made to the law that prioritize these investigations and provide answers to the families,” Glazer said.

Gerry Singer says he still has many questions about the day his brother died and why police shot Bradley.

While he waits for the investigation to be completed, he wants people to remember his brother as a kind man who did not hesitate to give food to anyone who was hungry.

Bradley was also his best friend, Gerry said.

“It’s just a real tragedy. I miss him terribly.’