SIU witness a no-show at labour hearing into manager’s alleged race-based comments

A legal dispute about the workplace at Ontario's Police watchdog is airing allegations of harassment.

An employee of Ontario’s police watchdog didn’t show up to testify at an Ontario Labour Relations Board hearing into alleged workplace harassment Thursday, prompting criticism from the adjudicator over the resulting delay and concern from the family of a victim of a police shooting.

The hearing, now postponed until at least April, might have been a chance for the family of Moses Erhirhie to better understand the allegations of race-based comments made in the upper ranks of the SIU — at least one about Erhirhie’s case – but now they will have to wait, said his stepmother.

“I was hoping for a bit more progress. I was hoping to be able to garner some more information,” said Dolores Rosita Langer. “I’m extremely disappointed.”

A complainant in the hearing is alleging that a senior manager said of a police shooting victim, that he was “a black drug dealer who had it coming.” CTV News learned through sources that case was Erhirhie’s.

The complainant also alleged that the manager described the tattoos of a black investigator as showing “her as gang affiliated,” and of an indigenous colleague, said, “monkey knows better.”

The SIU denied in a statement to CTV News that the comments were said, saying it takes allegations of discrimination seriously, and that the senior manager involved did not have any involvement in the Erhirhie case, which was decided in a multi-step process.

In a written response to the claims at issue in the hearing, the agency said the staffer’s application is “without merit and should be dismissed in its entirety.” CTV News is not identifying either party pending further progress in the OLRB hearing.

Inside the hearing, OLRB vice-chair Rishi Bandu was told the delay was because the employee was sick. Bandu said the lack of testimony was another unfortunate delay in a case that he said has been going on for two years.

“The delay in this case is undue. It’s been going on for a very long time,” he said. “It’s unusual for a matter to be delayed this long without any progress in the evidence.”

He asked both parties to resolve outstanding issues and make sure that the next hearing, on April 7, would go more smoothly.

Over at the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Erhirhie family is challenging the decision by the SIU not to charge the officer involved in the shooting of Moses Erhirhie, 35, in Markham in July 2022.

Videos obtained by CTV News show multiple angles of the incident, where Erhirhie is apparently urinating in a snowbank when he is approached by an officer with the York Regional Police.

After a short conversation, the officer appears to grab Erhirhie, who flees away from his car, and then returns to it. Once he’s in the driver’s seat, the vehicle speeds backwards up the snowbank with the driver’s door open, the officer hanging on.

The car stops in the snowbank, the officer steps away, and shoots Erhirhie, who tumbles out of the passenger door. Officers found a gun in a satchel on him. The SIU cleared the officer, saying he was justified in shooting as he feared for his life. That decision was upheld in a Newmarket court.

The officer didn’t provide a statement, as is his right, and the SIU investigation didn’t uncover why Erhirhie was stopped in the first place.

As for the claim Erhirhie was a drug dealer, Langer said he did his time in 2018 for a drug-related offense in St. Catharines.

A news report from that time indicates he was one of two people charged with counts including trafficking, though court documents appear to indicate that particular charge was withdrawn. A charge of assault in 2019 indicates it was withdrawn as Erhirhie was deceased.

Langer said outside the hearing that since then, he was “going straight. Moses has registered for school, and he had hopes and dreams of making us proud of him.”

“My stepson was no angel. But to urinate in a snowbank and be murdered as a result – justice must be done,” she said.

In an interview with CTV News, employment lawyer Muneeza Sheikh said in most cases, when an employer receives a complaint like this, they should conduct an internal investigation, and also provide assistance to employees who were on the receiving end of the comments or became aware of the comments.

“The idea is to rebuild the confidence in their workplace, so they understand that this is not a workplace that’s toxic, this is a workplace that’s safe,” she said.

Given its mandate to investigate incidents related to police violence, many who are people of colour, the SIU has another reason to make sure that it’s dealing with any potential incidents, she said.

“This is an organization is responsible for incredibly important work, and deals with people who are incredibly vulnerable so there is a public accountability factor in the work they do as well,” she said.

The SIU hasn’t said whether or not it has conducted an investigation, saying that human resources are confidential.