Toronto police chief invokes new powers to suspend charged officers without pay

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw says 'no stone will be left unturned' in the investigation into allegations of corruption against several officers.

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw has said that he will seek to suspend some of the officers charged in a bombshell corruption probe without pay, a rare move that was only made possible after a change to provincial legislation back in 2024.

Five Toronto police constables, two sergeants and one retired constable are facing a litany of charges following a sweeping investigation where they are accused of leaking confidential information to criminals, which allegedly prompted shootings, robberies and a thwarted murder plot against a corrections officer in York Region.

The current and former Toronto police officers have been identified as Const. Timothy Barnhardt, 56, Const. Saurabjit Bedi, 38, Sgt. Robert Black, 42, Sgt. Carl Grellete, 49, retired constable John Madeley Sr., 55, and his son Const. John Madeley Jr., 29, Const. Derek McCormick, 57, and Const. Elias Mouawad, 24.

On Friday, Peel Regional Police also confirmed three of its members have been suspended in the wake of Project South’s bombshell allegations. However, the Peel Region Service said none of them have been criminally charged.

• READ MORE: Toronto cops accused of leaking info to ‘key’ organized crime figure in corruption probe

Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, Demkiw called the allegations “deeply disappointing,” and requested an independent investigation to explore what happened.

The police chief also said he was seeking to suspend four of the seven accused officers without pay.

“Suspension without pay is the most serious interim measure available, resulting in significant financial, professional, and reputational consequences for the officer involved,” Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario, said in a statement to CTV News Toronto.

Demkiw’s decision to suspend some of the officers without pay was, up until recently, largely not permitted under law.

How suspension without pay works

Up until two years ago, Ontario was the only province where suspended officers could keep collecting their paycheques while facing criminal charges. In fact, under the old Police Services Act, the only instance an officer wouldn’t get paid while they’re suspended was if they had been convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail.

This was exactly what happened to former police officer James Forcillo who was only suspended with pay after he was convicted of attempted murder in the streetcar shooting of Sammy Yatim in 2016. That conviction came three years after Forcillo was initially suspended.

Julius Haag, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto who teaches courses in policing, told CTV News Toronto the former legislation was “restrictive,” and even lead to some cases where police officers were collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars while being forcibly off work until their guilty conviction was ruled.

Ioan-Florin Floria was a Toronto officer who was accused of blocking a kidnapping investigation and aiding a criminal organization. He was suspended with pay for well over a decade and, due to his six-figure salary, he reportedly earned more than a million dollars off the backs of taxpayers while off work.

“Members of the public would look at this, and I think it’s quite reasonable I think, and police leaders as well would look at this and say, ‘Well, here’s a situation where the public wants to understand, why is it there’s somebody who is charged with very serious crimes, who was still drawing a paycheque from the public coffers?” Haag said.

In April 2024, the province enacted a massive overhaul of the then-decades-old Police Services Act, renaming it to the Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA). The new act is gargantuan, containing a a total of 263 sections, which is more than 100 sections longer.

The updated legislation allows police chiefs the ability to suspend officers without pay in some cases, like when an officer is in custody or on bail conditions that would interfere with their work, or if they were charged with a serious off-duty offence that could get them ousted from the police service.

The first-ever officer to be suspended without pay under the new act was Toronto Police Det.-Const. Brian Sukhram after he was charged with theft, breach of trust and obstructing justice. The investigation launched in 2024, but his charges were announced months later.

Boris Borissov was also an officer who was suspended without pay following the ratification of the CSPA. The Toronto constable was ultimately convicted of stealing from deceased individuals and was found guilty of 15 charges, including breach of trust by an official, fraud and theft.

“These provisions, detailed in the CPSA and replacing the previous legislative framework, are designed to ensure accountability while protecting public trust,” Baxter said.

• READ MORE: Toronto mayor calls for ‘systemic changes’ amid allegations of police corruption

In Haag’s view, police chiefs will likely only suspend officers without pay in “extremely serious and extremely concerning” cases.

“They still want to ensure that their officers, who are in these situations, are entitled to due process,” Haag said. “I understand that they’re going to be reluctant to apply these powers unless they believe it’s absolutely necessary.”

Speaking to Newstalk 1010’s John Moore on Friday, Demkiw shared he is working to build back “trust and confidence” from the public in his force.

The chief’s responsibility, as he described it, is to ensure “good order and discipline” within the organization—and that includes support the provision under the CPSA requiring an independent agency to investigate the Toronto Police Service.

• READ MORE: Independent investigation called for after Toronto officers charged in organized-crime probe

“He’s showing to the public that this is a case that reaches a threshold where you know these crimes are serious enough offences, are serious enough that we’re going to suspend these officers without pay, and we’re not going to contribute to a situation where officers who are accused of these various, serious offences are still drawing a paycheck from the public purse,” Haag said.

With files from Bryann Aguilar, Joshua Freeman and Phil Tsekouras