Eric Stubbs takes over from Deputy Chief Steve Bell, who temporarily filled the void left by former Chief Peter Sloly – who stepped down in February amid heavy criticism of his force’s handling of the Freedom Convoy protests. Sloli, Ottawa’s first black police chief, was a self-proclaimed change agent who sought broad reform of the Ottawa Police Service, including addressing systemic racism in the ranks. At the press conference announcing Stubbs as the new chief, he said police forces must adapt to working in “a different world” than five years ago, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and cryptocurrencies alongside systemic racism. The relationship between police and diverse communities continues to be fraught with challenges, and Stubbs will also face an uphill battle, observers told the CBC. When locals begin to look into his past with the RCMP, his dealings with First Nations communities in B.C. are the first items that appear in a Google search. “I think they made a bad choice,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the BC Indian Chiefs Association. Indigenous leaders, including Phillip, have accused the RCMP of using unconscionable paramilitary tactics as Mounties executed court orders against blockade participants on Wet’suwet’en traditional territory in northern British Columbia. When asked about his role in helping to oversee the BC RCMP’s crackdown on pipeline construction site blockades, Stubbs said policing resource-based protests was “very challenging” and “similar to an escort.” “There’s a group here that’s … really dedicated to trying to resolve these things through conversations and negotiations,” Stubbs said, referring to his former officers in B.C. “We’ve been successful in a lot of these cases, but often we end up arresting people and some people are upset.” Stubbs’ biography released by the Ottawa Police Services Council said he led the RCMP’s response to “several high-profile protests related to the resource sector.” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, the president of the BC Indian Chiefs Association, believes Stamps was a bad hire for Ottawa. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Stubbs mentions the history of working with indigenous groups
Phillip also criticized Stubbs for not taking his concerns seriously during his meeting with the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC), a coalition of BC Indigenous groups. The coalition will meet regularly with Stubbs to discuss concerns about resource development projects. “He made his moves to listen … and he went ahead and authorized the brutal actions that were taken,” said Phillip, who did not consult the police board in Ottawa about Stobbs. “And in my view, his attitude was arrogant.” The CBC has reached out to Stubbs and the police board for comment on Phillip’s comments. Neither was available. Stubbs defended his relationships with Indigenous people, saying he served in 11 First Nations communities when he was younger and continued to work on a number of committees and initiatives with Indigenous groups as he rose through the ranks of the RCMP. “I enjoy it, working with the indigenous communities,” he said. “I’ve done it a lot and will continue to do it.” RCMP helicopter footage from the 2019 raid on the Wet’suwet’en roadblocks. (CBC News)
“An Open Heart”
Heidi Metcalfe said she is willing to give Stubbs a chance. An Inuk member of the Ottawa Police Service’s community justice board — but speaking personally and not on behalf of the board — Metcalfe said Stubbs’ time with the RCMP is “difficult because the relationship between the RCMP and Inuit communities is especially fraught with mistakes and disbelief.”
Equity board member Inuk keeps an “open mind” about Stubbs
Heidi Metcalfe said while she’s concerned the new head is the RCMP, she’s keeping an “open mind and an open heart.” “Hearing that the new chief of police in Ottawa is the RCMP, it’s concerning, but I have hope for any new person that comes in. I’m keeping an open mind and an open heart,” Metcalf said. “My goal is always, always, always to create allies.” Metcalf said council was hoping for a new police chief who has existing relationships with marginalized communities in Ottawa and who understands the police’s relationship with the city’s Inuit community. He said any new police chief would have to reach out “in a genuine way” to Ottawa’s aboriginal community, which is diverse in its own right. “I would like anyone who does work that affects the community to get to know the community.” 613-819 Black Hub’s Robin Browne believes Stubbs should resign before he even starts, citing what he sees as a flawed hiring process. (Trevor Pritchard/CBC)
“Such bad visuals”
Robin Brown didn’t mince words. He said Stubbs should simply resign and the process of hiring a new police chief should start over with the new Ottawa City Council having a say. Browne co-leads the 613-819 Black Hub, a grassroots advocacy group with eyes on city hall and the police. Brown repeated a criticism of the police board saying they should wait to hire the new chief. Firstly, on the swearing in of the new city council – this happened on Tuesday – and secondly, on the results of the ongoing public inquiry into the Freedom Convoy protests, due to be made public next year. Brown also criticized former police board chairman Eli El-Chandiri, who also served as mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s campaign co-chairman. This was also a criticism leveled at Sutcliffe during the mayoral campaign. “There were so many bad visuals,” Browne said. “The loss of faith in this office cannot be repaired if [Stubbs] comes with all these conditions.” Stubbs, who said he “went through a rigorous process” to be hired as police chief, believes the timing of his hiring doesn’t change one main goal: earning the trust of the community. When it comes to Ottawa’s diverse racial communities, Browne said Stubbs has his work cut out for him. Trust in local police was already low before the Freedom Convoy protests, Browne said, because of their involvement in the death of Abdirahman Abdi, a Somali-Canadian, during a violent arrest by two Ottawa police officers in 2016. Throw in Sloly’s resignation and Stubbs’ role in policing the Wet’suwet’en blockades, and “the confidence level is so low given, again, the way they rushed to hire,” Browne said. Greg Ritchie was shot to death by Ottawa police on January 31, 2019 in the parking lot of Elmvale Mall. (Submitted by Chantel Ritchie)
Putting the police leadership “in order”.
Sloli also oversaw an effort to review how Ottawa officers respond to calls involving mental health — a factor in the deaths of Abdi and Greg Ritchiean Indigenous man was shot and killed by police at Elmvale Mall in 2019. Police reform became “so much of the promise” of Sloly’s hiring, according to Jeffrey Monaghan of Carleton University’s Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, but now the force is starting over with a new leader and “time will tell » what will be his priorities. Monaghan said he doesn’t think Stubbs is a “protest squash,” but rather calls him an “old-school cop.”
Stubbs brings ‘baggage’ as head of OPS, criminology professor says
Jeffrey Monaghan of Carleton University’s Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice noted Eric Stubbs’ role in defending injunctions against blockade participants in the Wet’suwet’en traditional region. “[He’s] he’s going to bring discipline to the force and he’s someone who’s going to be able to take the upper echelons of police management and bring them to order,” Monaghan said. “What we saw in [public inquiry] is that the Ottawa Police Service is extremely disorganized and broken, especially at the top.”
