Push to have North Bay police board meetings livestreamed

Some in North Bay are pushing to have police board meetings livestreamed for transparency. Advocate Melanie Demers cites the Ontario Ombudsman's recommendation.

There’s a push underway in North Bay to have police services board meetings livestreamed for anyone wanting to learn more about decisions made by the board and police leaders.

A presentation was made to the city’s police board Tuesday morning about the benefits of a livestream option. North Bay resident Melanie Demers said she’s all for accountability and transparency.

“I’m also an advocate for accessibility,” Demers told reporters Tuesday morning.

She attended her first police board meeting Tuesday and made a 10-minute on making the meetings more available to the public.

“The message from the ombudsman -- and this is a direct quote -- is ‘When in doubt, open the meeting,’” Demers said.

Demers said taxpayers want real-time, up-to-date information on where and how their money is being spent.

Police board meetings normally take place on the third Tuesday of each month at 8 a.m. at the North Bay police headquarters and are open to the public. The minutes and agenda are posted on the police website.

But Demers argued that not everyone can attend meetings in person.

“In fact, the Ombudsman of Ontario does recommend that the board meetings are livestreamed,” she said.

Demers said board meetings are already livestreamed in several cities in southern Ontario, including Toronto, Ottawa, Niagara and Hamilton.

Feedback from those communities proves they have been successful.

In place in other cities

“It’s been done in other communities and it’s been done in other communities where I was a police chief,” police chief Daryl Longworth said.

The North Bay board already has online Zoom capability set up for members if they can’t attend in person.

Demers said there could also be an opportunity at the end of meetings to open the floor for a brief question and answer period with members of the public.

“They could moderate the chat and they could incorporate the feedback from the residents that are chatting and use it to improve their services,” she said.

“To have that open dialogue is very important.”

Deputy Mayor Maggie Horsfield said she agreed with the concept and would vote in favour of establishing a livestream option if a motion is tabled.

“We can definitely talk to the police service staff about having that link published for folks,” Horsfield said.

CTV News reached out to other nearby police boards to see how they operate.

In Sudbury, anyone can attend board meetings either in person or virtually. A media release is also posted online publicly prior to the meetings, so that anyone from the public can attend virtually.

The recordings and agenda are then published online.

The Timmins police board does not livestream its meetings. However, each meeting link is accessible to the public upon request, and the agenda is posted on its website.

In Sault Ste. Marie, board meetings are open to the public. However, anyone wishing to attend is asked to contact the board administrator, where, typically, members of the public will be provided with a link to join virtually.

Their board meetings are posted online along with the agenda.