Police board member and city businessman dies

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This article was published 01/09/2017 (3017 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A controversial appointment by the provincial government to the Winnipeg Police Board has died.

An obituary in Friday’s Winnipeg Free Press noted that Larry Licharson, 68, died Wednesday.

“We’re very saddened to hear of Larry’s passing,” said police board chairman David Asper. “He was an extremely valued colleague on the Winnipeg Police Board who served on and then became chair of our budget and finance committee. We will sincerely miss his collegiality and wisdom, and wish his family well in this time of sorrow.”

Licharson, a local businessman, was appointed to the police board in July 2016, along with Alicja Szarkiewicz, a retired school teacher who has run for the Conservatives both provincially and federally. The move was criticized at the time because they replaced two board members of colour who had been appointed by the former NDP government: local Indigenous activist Leslie Spillett and former inner-city school principal Angeline Ramkissoon.

The removal of Spillett and Ramkissoon left Mary Jane Loustel, who is Métis and had been an original board member appointed by former mayor Sam Katz, as the only-non-white member of the board.

The appointments of Licharson and Szarkiewicz were labelled by critics as an attempt by the new provincial government to “white-wash” the police board.

Since their appointments, Licharson and Szarkiewicz have rarely spoken during the public portions of board meetings. Licharson had been recently appointed as chairman of the board’s finance and budget committee. Their silence was in contrast to both Spillett and Ramkissoon, two strongly opinionated individuals who regularly voiced their concerns at board meetings on police policy and procedures as applied to the city’s Indigenous and immigrant communities.

A biography posted on the police board website said Licharson owned and managed HR Adworks Ltd. He is also the owner of Media Adworks and a real estate management and investment company called Sherburn Inc. (also known as JFB Realty).

The website notes he was active in many community organizations, having served on the boards of Big Brothers of Winnipeg, Big Brothers and Sisters of Canada, the Arthritis Society of Manitoba, Women’s Employment Counselling Service, Immigrant Women’s Employment Counselling Service, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, the Manitoba Aids Shelter Foundation Inc., and Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca