‘I want to make the city a better, safer place’ WPS veteran sworn in as police chief; promises greater reconciliation, violent crime strategy, community help with some mental health calls By: Chris Kitching Posted: 5:15 PM CDT Monday, Mar. 17, 2025 Last Modified: 5:51 PM CDT Monday, Mar. 17, 2025 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/03/2025 (566 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s new police chief laid out a vision Monday that includes further reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, a violent crime strategy and changes to how some mental health calls are handled.

Gene Bowers, after he was sworn in as the city’s 19th police chief, also vowed to enhance community policing and reopen district stations to the public to make the Winnipeg Police Service more accessible.

“I want to do good. I want to make the city a better, safer place, and I just think I have the background and experience to do it,” Bowers told reporters after a ceremony in a room at Princess Auto Stadium.

He said his strategy to curb violent crime will include a dedicated unit, data-driven decisions and a focus on repeat offenders who are on bail. He hopes it will help to reduce response times.

“The Winnipeg police will not be spectators or wait for more citizens to be victimized,” he said in his speech to an audience that included family, police officers and politicians.

Bowers, a member of the WPS for 36 years, pledged to make the service a leader in reconciliation with Indigenous communities to “heal past wounds” and strengthen relationships.

“My ultimate hope is that reconciliation will be woven into the fabric of our service,” he told an audience that included Indigenous leaders, his family, police officers and politicians.

Bowers said he will create an Indigenous action circle to help ensure Indigenous Peoples are heard, feel valued and are safe, and to help with police training.

Sandra DeLaronde, team lead of Giganawenimaanaanig, formerly known as the MMIWG2S+ Implementation Advisory Committee, said the action circle must be “embedded” in legislation to ensure its voice is not interrupted.

Membership should include MMIWG2S+ families and people who have had experiences with police, she said.

“My ultimate hope is that reconciliation will be woven into the fabric of our service.”–Gene Bowers

“One of the issues that we face in the city is those that are vulnerable,” DeLaronde said. “There has to be an opportunity for those in those sectors to be able to have their voice heard at the table.”

Speaking to reporters, Bowers wouldn’t say if he had a role in the WPS’ decision in 2022 — when he was a deputy chief and Danny Smyth was chief — not to search the Prairie Green Landfill for Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, who were slain by serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

Remains belonging to both women were recently recovered at the landfill north of Winnipeg.

Bowers said he would comment publicly once he meets with both families of the victims.

DeLaronde said an apology to the Harris and Myran families is needed, but it must come with action.

To rebuild trust with families and the community, Bowers “needs to affirm that when one of our relatives goes missing, they will search,” she said.

“There has to be an opportunity for those in those sectors to be able to have their voice heard at the table.”–Sandra Delaronde

DeLaronde handed Bowers a copy of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ final report, which included 231 calls for justice, during the swearing-in ceremony.

At the inquiry in 2018, Smyth apologized for the WPS’ treatment of Indigenous women and girls.

Building relationships with communities was a central theme of Bowers’ speech. He said the WPS cannot solve the city’s issues on its own.

Bowers’ priorities include improving the morale of WPS officers and civilian staff, and making sure the service reflects Winnipeg’s diversity.

Reuben Garang, director of Immigration Partnership Winnipeg, said communities can help find solutions.

“For us in the community, the first part of building relationships is being open to people,” he said. “You have to listen to what people are saying.”

In his speech, Bowers became emotional when he talked about his father, who had mental-health struggles and died by suicide when Bowers was nine.

“It gave me the gift of empathy, understanding and compassion for those that have lost loved ones, not only to mental health, but to those who have lost loved ones to other tragic events,” he told the audience.

Bowers said he will work with partners to implement “community-based solutions” in which the response to some mental health calls is led by clinicians, rather than police.

Some cities, including Toronto, have a community-based, crisis worker-led service that responds to non-emergent, non-violent calls without police.

“We can replicate what they have done here as we already have non-police-led community outreach teams,” said Kate Kehler, a member of the Police Accountability Coalition.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said last week the city will launch a new mental-health emergency service.

“You’ve heard the chief talk about very much what I’ve talked about — identifying ways to get the right response to those in mental-health crisis, and it may not be people with badges and guns,” the mayor told reporters Monday. “It may not be officers, but instead, health workers.”

Gillingham welcomed Bowers’ focus on “smart policing,” which uses data and relationships with community members.

“We really need proactive policing to kind of get at the things that may be a problem before they really begin,” the mayor said.

Premier Wab Kinew congratulated Bowers after commenting on the success of the landfill search Monday from his office at the Manitoba legislature.

“I hope that the relationship with the Winnipeg Police Service and Indigenous peoples and the community at large can be a constructive one. The police have an important role to play when it comes to public safety and to have confidence in the administration of their important work,” Kinew said.

Bowers’ appointment to the role of chief was delayed by about three months. The police board needed more time to review “new information” that has since been addressed, chair Coun. Markus Chambers said last week.

The board sought a private law firm’s advice in January in what it said was to ensure a proper vetting process.

The city has not explained why extra vetting was needed. In December, the Free Press reported questions were raised about Bowers’ suitability to lead the WPS.

Chambers has said concerns were found to be “without merit.”

A freedom-of-information request, filed by the Free Press to the police board earlier this month, sought all written records, including memos, meeting agendas and notes, prepared for or during the board’s closed-door police chief recruitment meetings.

The board refused the request entirely.

Board secretary Jeffrey Wiggett cited legislative exemptions in refusing the request, including that the disclosure could be harmful to a third party’s privacy, that it could violate the confidence of a public body, that the request could reveal advice to a public body, that the request could contain legally privileged information, and that the request could contain confidential evaluations about the applicant.

— with files from Carol Sanders, Tyler Searle and Erik Pindera

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca