Cop-board study may take a while

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Dan Vandal: $10K for museum? (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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Dan Vandal (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

It may be a few months before a provincial police commission weighs in on whether the Winnipeg Police Service should conduct security checks on citizens appointed to oversee the police force.

Manitoba Police Commission chairman Rick Linden said the commission will conduct a formal study of how police-board appointees are vetted in other parts of Canada before it issues recommendations on whether it is a conflict of interest for the Winnipeg Police Service to screen candidates for the city's new police board.

Linden said there does not appear to be a consistent set of standards across the country. Some municipalities ask provincial police to vet provincial nominees, while other small municipalities do not conduct security checks on their police-board members. Other cities have their police force vet appointees to such oversight boards, he said.

The review was sparked by conflict-of-interest concerns raised by Louise Simbandumwe, a provincial appointee to the city's board. Simbandumwe agreed to a security check, but suggested an outside body such as the RCMP should do it, not the police force she is being appointed to oversee.

Justice Minister Andrew Swan wrote to the Manitoba Police Commission asking its opinion on the matter.

Linden said the commission will present its findings to the 11 Manitoba municipalities that have police boards, including Winnipeg. He said they will have a chance for feedback before the commission issues its final recommendations to Swan.

The review and consultation process is expected to take a couple of months.

"The bottom line is there's huge variability," Linden said. "The practices across the country are so different that we can't say everybody does it this way."

Next week, city council will vote on city nominees to the board -- protection and community services chairman Coun. Scott Fielding, lawyer Paul Edwards, Glen Karr, Mary Jane Loustel and Elmwood Coun. Thomas Steen.

The province has also nominated Leslie Spillet. Provincial appointees do not need city council approval.

City officials have said all board appointees other than Simbandumwe agreed to undergo the "class 3 security clearance," a 40-hour process involving interviews and extensive checks.

The city told the province it would have to come up with an alternative candidate if Simbandumwe did not agree to the check.

Swan said the province will wait for the commission's recommendations before announcing its second appointee.

He said Simbandumwe's concerns highlight her strengths as a potential candidate, and the city can still move ahead with creating the board, as six members will make a quorum.

"We will be moving ahead once we have the commission's advice," Swan said Friday.

Linden said he's surprised similar concerns have not been raised in other jurisdictions. He said he does not know what the result will be, but the commission is keeping an open mind.

"It isn't something we anticipated. It's definitely worth taking a look at," he said.

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca

Second councillor asks leave to donate

Councillor representation allowance: St. Boniface Coun. Dan Vandal is the second member of city council who wants to use part of his discretionary office budget to fund a community group. Vandal has asked council's governance committee for permission to spend $10,000 of his discretionary budget on the St. Boniface Museum. Councillors' annual budgets will rise to $114,000 from $74,000 this year after council approved the funding increase. The move was criticized by several members, who said councillors should not increase their ward budgets when the city reduced funding to museums by five per cent and eliminated funding to other non-profit groups.

Last month, the governance committee gave Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) approval to spend $28,000 of his ward budget to support Save Our Seine, but stipulated it would be a one-off approval. The governance committee will consider Vandal's request next week.

Community centre: The Glenwood Community Centre Arena is slated to get $280,000 in upgrades. On Friday, city and provincial officials announced the arena is one of the community projects that will receive money under the second phase of the Building Communities Initiative. The arena upgrades are expected to be complete by late summer.

Since 2010, the two levels of government have committed $10 million through the Building Communities Initiative to help upgrade 37 recreation facilities in Winnipeg. Earlier this week, officials announced they will launch a $10-million second phase that will see 34 projects receive funding.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 16, 2013 B4