Fort Frances Police Services Board virtual meeting on March 26, 2021
There could be a new districtwide police services board for the Rainy River district.
It’s because of recent changes to Ontario’s Police Services Act.
The province is giving municipalities until June 7 to decide what direction they want to take for local policing oversight and reporting purposes.
OPP Detachment Commander Inspector OPP Nathan Schmidt says it makes sense to have a single board.
“One board makes total sense that if they are now responsible for the entire district, they can help guide us and understand the issues that we’re facing and some of the complexities of the investigations,” says Insp. Schmidt.
Currently, there are PSBs for Fort Frances and Atikokan.
The Fort Frances Police Services Board has agreed to take the lead to at least start the conversation.
“And try to get a working group together to see where this can go. And once we have something, then each individual can deal with their council and see where it goes,” says Councillor John McTaggart, chair of the Fort Frances PSB.
The province only wants one submission from the district.
Schmidt says the decision comes down to the area municipalities determining if they want one or more boards for the district.
“If the ten municipalities were going to allow Atikokan to have their own, they would have to justify it and indicate how that’s going to work in the submission. If the other nine say no, we think it should be all one, then where does it go?” says Schmidt.
Schmidt says it could lead to the government forcing the district municipalities into a single board.
The change in police services boards does not impact how municipalities are billed for police.
