Police Oversight

Asper Centre formally launches its Police Complaints Guide for Ontario

Posted on by Tal Schreier

by Daniel Minden

On March 26, 2026, the Asper Centre formally launched its new Practical Guide to Police Oversight, a resource designed to help people in Ontario navigate Ontario’s police complaints system. To mark the occasion, the Asper Centre held an event which brought together Jackman Law students and staff, representatives from several Toronto legal clinics, and officials from police oversight agencies. The event featured remarks from Joseph Maiorano, Deputy Inspector General of Policing of Ontario; Stephen Leach, Complaints Director at the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA); Emily Hill, Senior Staff Lawyer at Aboriginal Legal Services; and Sarah Strban, a criminal defence lawyer in Toronto.

In her introductory remarks, Tal Schreier, Program Coordinator at the Asper Centre, noted that the Police Complaints Guide project originated in 2017. During the summer of 2017, Sarah Strban, then a student at the Faculty of Law, worked as a researcher for renowned Canadian constitutional law expert Mary Eberts in the context of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Her research uncovered a lack of public information about the police complaints process in Canada. Following her summer fellowship, Strban convened an Asper Centre working group which carried on with this research. In response to Sarah’s working group research, the Asper Centre sought and received funding from the Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO) to create the guide. However, the newly elected provincial government led by Doug Ford was in the midst of altering the police oversight legislative framework. In 2019, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed the Community Safety and Policing Act (“CSPA”) which reformed the province’s police complaints system. The Asper Centre paused the project until the CSPA entered into force and was fully implemented. With the new police complaints system in effect as of 2024, the Asper Centre completed the drafting and translations of the guide in 2025.

The guests of honour lauded the guide as a valuable resource for the public and explained their organizations’ roles in Ontario’s new police oversight system. Joseph Maiorano, Deputy Inspector General of Policing, noted that the Inspectorate’s mandate is to ensure the compliance of police services and boards with the CSPA. The Inspectorate achieves this task through inspections, investigations, and advisory services, Maiorano said. To fulfil its mandate, the Inspectorate is empowered to issue compliance directions, remove members of a police services board, and appoint administrators to administer a police service. The Inspectorate also includes a Centre of Data Intelligence and Innovation, which conducts research and analysis to improve policing in Ontario.

Maiorano also provided an update on the Inspectorate’s recent work, highlighting its inspection of the Thunder Bay Police Service and Thunder Bay Police Service Board. In addition, Maiorano underscored the Inspector General’s recent decision to launch an inspection of police integrity and anti-corruption practices across Ontario, which will examine five areas: supervision of officers, vetting of recruits and officers, access to databases, evidence management, and substance use related to fitness for duty.

The event also featured remarks from Stephen Leach, Complaints Director at LECA. Although members of the public can submit complaints about police conduct directly to LECA, these complaints are usually referred to the police service whose employees’ conduct is at issue. LECA itself rarely decides to retain complaints for investigation. Rather, LECA functions as an independent oversight body which is set up to review results of investigations conducted by police agencies. LECA can confirm or modify these results or order new investigations.

Leach argued that LECA has made substantial progress in remedying the shortcomings of its predecessor organization, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), which existed until April 2024. According to Leach, the OPIRD had a backlog of 1,000 cases. Leach claimed that LECA has improved those metrics significantly and is now complying with the 120-day limit set out in the CSPA. Leach also lauded the provision in the CSPA which requires police chiefs to advise LECA of possible incidents of misconduct affecting the public and claimed that LECA receives 10-15 such notifications per week.

Following the remarks by Leach, Emily Hill of Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS) explained that her organization frequently helps clients address police misconduct. According to Hill, ALS often represents families in inquests following deaths of individuals in police custody or use-of-force incidents. ALS also assists clients in making complaints about police through the LECA process, filing human rights complaints where discriminatory police conduct is at issue, and contacting police to report crimes. For Hill, the Police Complaints Guide is a valuable resource which will help people in Ontario understand their options for police complaints and inform Ontario residents about the outcomes that they can realistically expect. Hill also commented on the potential use of restorative justice practices in resolving police complaints, noting that they can be particularly effective where the parties have an ongoing relationship, a shared interest in continued collaboration, and a commitment to improving policing in the community.

Finally, Toronto criminal defence lawyer Sarah Strban, who worked on the Guide during her studies at the Faculty of Law, elaborated on the origins of the guide. Strban noted that her initial research into police oversight in Ontario was conducted for Mary Eberts, who served as counsel to the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. With the benefit of Strban’s research, Eberts asked the National Inquiry to expand its mandate to encompass police oversight. Although the National Inquiry declined to do so, Strban’s summer research became a “passion project” and led her to convene the student-led working group at the Asper Centre, which continued to examine the police complaints process. Now that the project has come to fruition, Strban believes that the guide will be a valuable resource for people in Ontario, in particular for those who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

The Asper Centre’s Practical Guide to Police Oversight, funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario, is available online in English, French, and Oji-Cree [Anishininiimowin / ᐊᓂᐦᔑᓂᓃᒧᐏᐣ] and in print at many legal clinics across Ontario.

Daniel Minden is a Research and Communications Assistant with the Asper Centre. He is a 1L JD candidate at the University of Toronto Jackman Faculty of Law.

Asper Centre Students in Focus: Brittany Cohen

Posted on by Student

Brittany Cohen, a rising second-year J.D. candidate, is another student research assistant working at the Asper Centre this summer.

Building on one of its student working group projects this past academic year, the Asper Centre is developing a series of police oversight legal information guides for the general public (one for each province, the territories and for the RCMP), and Cohen is spearheading the research this summer.  The guides will include a plain-language review of criminal and disciplinary oversight procedures in each jurisdiction, detailed steps that affected persons need to take to file a police complaint, timelines to keep in mind, special sections for vulnerable groups such as Indigenous people and victims of gender-based violence, and lists of resources and referrals for further assistance. The guides will be available online and in print, and will be translated into French and several Indigenous languages, to ensure accessibility.

The guides are designed so “[the public] can find really accessible information on how to file a police complaint,” Cohen says. “Right now, in a lot of provinces, it’s really difficult to find the right information.”

The most difficult aspect of her research thus far has been tracking down accurate and up to date information on the precise mechanisms of each province’s police accountability procedures. “The reason we want to create the guides is that there’s a lack of information, so that’s obviously a problem when creating the guides,” Cohen explains. “We will be partnering with stakeholders across Canada to find legal experts in the different regions who can fill in the gaps.”

Cohen was a member of the police oversight student working group during her first year as a law student, where she performed preliminary research on the police oversight bodies in Nova Scotia. Over the summer, she’s been exploring the issue on a national level by reviewing each province’s policing legislation, which establishes the police oversight bodies and/or procedures in that province, and drafting the information guides.

Cohen, who first became interested in the law in high school and who studied criminal justice and psychology in undergrad, is drawn to both criminal defence and constitutional law. “There’s a lot of overlap there,” she says, noting the two fields involve directly assisting clients. “I think both of them have a direct impact on the public, and that’s my main focus.”

Cohen will be co-leading the Asper Centre’s police oversight student working group this upcoming academic year.

Evaluating Ontario’s Proposed Police Legislation

Posted on by Tal Schreier

By Sarah Strban

 

A (Slightly) Safer Ontario

On November 2nd, the Ontario Legislature tabled an omnibus bill that comprehensively overhauls the province’s police oversight system. Bill 175, The Safer Ontario Act, is intended to resolve many of the oversight issues raised by Justice Michael Tulloch in his April report. Among them, the Bill clarifies police responsibilities, formally defines oversight mandates, establishes a new complaints body, and moves adjudication externally. As a whole, Bill 175 is a valuable piece of legislation. That said, this new system still allows for police investigating police, and therefore perpetuates a main source of public distrust. The legislation has varying impact on different oversight bodies, which will be explored below.

Ontario Police Forces: Bill 175 does not significantly change the structure of Ontario police forces, nor their policing procedures. The Bill confirms police duties and responsibilities, and sets out the general rules for provincial and municipal forces. It also establishes formal whistle-blowing procedures and protects against internal reprisals. Where Bill 175 breaks ground, however, is in its formal acknowledgment of Indigenous issues. The Bill affirms the unique culture of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and acknowledges a history of conflict in Indigenous policing. Bill 175 also makes strides in its creation of the Inspector General of Policing. This new position will actively monitor police forces and police service boards, to ensure that they comply with the Police Services Act. In general, Bill 175 only makes modest changes to the Ontario police forces themselves, but these changes are important for forging relationships and increasing public confidence.

Criminal Misconduct: Bill 175 is most successful in its amendments to the Ontario criminal oversight system. The legislation expands the mandate of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) and strengthens the oversight body’s investigatory powers. The SIU is now mandated to investigate 1) all instances of death, serious injury, and firearm discharges, and 2) any further criminal conduct that emerges in their investigation. It had not previously had jurisdiction over firearm discharges, nor could the SIU investigate other kinds of police criminal conduct, such as fraud or obstruction. Bill 175 also formally defines “serious injury” to include cases of sexual assault, which was a major recommendation in Justice Tulloch’s report. In addition, the new legislation strengthens SIU investigations through a duty to comply, and lays down requirements for more public transparency. Overall, the new legislation is successful at empowering the SIU and ensuring meaningful criminal oversight.

Ethical Misconduct: Where Bill 175 disappoints, however, is in the arena of disciplinary misconduct. The legislation makes important changes to Ontario’s oversight mandate, but fails to fully solve the problem of police investigating police. Currently, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) sends the majority of public complaints back to the same police force to be investigated. Under Bill 175, the new Ontario Policing Complaints Agency (OPCA) can still refer its complaints back to the police, but only to a different police force than the one under investigation. While this is an important step for improving public confidence, this does not resolve the core issue of police investigating fellow police officers. Bill 175 therefore misses a key opportunity to reform police oversight, namely by ensuring independent investigations. Where Bill 175 does succeed, is by expanding OPCA jurisdiction to include special constables’ and First Nations’ police misconduct. The Bill also imposes a duty to cooperate with investigations, so it increases oversight reach and competence in this regard. Overall, the new legislation makes important changes to police oversight, but does not go far enough in ensuring independent investigations.

Discipline Adjudication: Perhaps the greatest success of Bill 175, is the complete overhaul of Ontario’s police adjudication system. Before, police complaints were adjudicated internally by fellow officers, with only appeals heard before an independent tribunal. Now, all instances of police misconduct will be heard before the new Ontario Police Discipline Tribunal, with appeals going to Divisional Court. This means that all police adjudication will be formal, public, and competent. This is a significant change to Ontario’s police oversight procedures, and will be essential for generating public confidence in the police.

Overall, Bill 175 is a much-needed, well-timed amendment to Ontario’s police oversight system. The Bill is not perfect by any means, but it takes major steps towards proper accountability, transparency, and trust in Ontario policing.

Sarah Strban is a 2L JD Candidate at the Faculty of Law. She is the current co-leader of our Police Oversight student working group and she held an Asper Centre Summer Fellowship in 2017 focused on researching police oversight systems in Canada.