Ottawa police chief outlines plan to address sexual misconduct in the force

Ottawa’s police chief spoke to the media for the first time since releasing a video issuing a stark warning to officers about inappropriate behaviour.

Ottawa’s police chief says his focus is on efforts to improve and change the culture when it comes to sexual misconduct within the Ottawa Police Service after recently addressing what he called a “pattern” of inappropriate sexual misconduct by some officers.

Last week, CTV Ottawa obtained an internal video where Chief Eric Stubbs addressed a series of inappropriate activities in the police service. In the seven-minute video, he told officers they had a choice to either “change your behaviour or quit.”

Speaking for the first time since the video was released, Chief Eric Stubbs spoke to reporters prior to the Ottawa Police Services Board meeting on Monday, the first to take place in-person since 2022. During the meeting, the police service unveiled a set of measures aimed at improving accountability and culture within policing.

“We could say that we’re not making any progress. One can also say that we are heavily invested in trying to get this right, and learning, and being better, and we will not stop trying,” Stubbs told reporters.

Some of the changes introduced at Monday’s board meeting include a review of actions to report misconduct, the creation of a new “THRIVE” advisory committee, measures to increase leadership accountability and a bigger focus on early intervention.

The service says it has implemented mandatory training in areas such as workplace harassment, violence, equity and inclusion as well as a shift away from a primarily reactive model to a proactive and preventative approach, according to a report for the board.

Dep. Chief Trish Ferguson says the service will be asking its officers to call out the behaviour when it happens and to create a culture where members can be comfortable coming forward. She says one possibility being considered would be to make officers sign a code of conduct when joining.

Ferguson says past efforts to combat sexual harassment and misconduct have not led to changes that they had hoped.

“They were costly, sometimes ineffective in changing behaviour and revictimized our complainants, and did more damage than restoration,” Ferguson said.

In April, an Ottawa police officer was charged with assault and criminal harassment in connection with an intimate partner violence incident, while another officer received an 18-month demotion for using police databases to search for information on his ex-partners and other members of the public.

The service has not said how many cases of misconduct or harassment the police force has seen.

When asked if officers have been fired or quit for inappropriate behaviour, Stubbs said the police service has to work within existing disciplinary requirements. He did not say if any officers had quit the service over misconduct.

“Obviously, in the private world, things are a lot different than they are in the unionized world, and also we even have another level above that, as I mentioned in the legislative capacity that we have to follow strict process before that occurs,” he said.

Ferguson told CFRA last week that discussions around the issues have been ongoing for a significant amount of Stubbs’s three-and-a-half-year-tenure.

Ferguson said the police service has assembled a table of senior leaders to propose simple solutions to the issue. It is also working toward a goal of having 30 per cent of sworn members to be women, something Stubbs outlined in his video address.

“I think what’s going to be different now is we’re going to be asking our members… in terms of the oversight amongst ourselves to be calling out that behavior to be addressing it, what is happening, not waiting for necessarily the chief to decide, but actually getting members to be comfortable and empowered to be able to have those conversations themselves before it rises to the level where investigations and oversight needs to happen,” Ferguson told reporters.

The board says it will report the progress of its new measures within the next six to 12 months, where an adjustment on the strategy could be made based on feedback.

“There is the overwhelming majority, high percentage of our officers. They’re embarrassed by some of this that their colleagues have stained the badge that they wear, so there is momentum and there is a willingness, but we need to be able to do the work,” Stubbs said.

“This is not getting this done next month. This is a measured approach that is going to take some time, and it’s always hard to measure over time if we’ve made a difference, and I think we will because the head space is there.”

With files from CTV Ottawa’s Adam Beauchemin

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App