EXCLUSIVE: Vaughan MP Fantino firing of First Nations police chief not racism, court rules

YorkRegion.com
July 11, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

An Ontario court has upheld a human rights tribunal ruling that the firing of a First Nations police chief without a hearing by then-OPP commissioner Julian Fantino had nothing to do with the man’s aboriginal status.

A three-judge panel from the Ontario Divisional Court in Toronto last week dismissed an application by Lawrence Hay, former chief of police of the Tyendinaga Mohawk First Nation, to quash a previous Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ruling and order a new hearing.

“I am pleased that Mr. Hay's allegations have not been sustained by a second judicial body,” Fantino, now Conservative MP for Vaughan and Minister of Veterans Affairs, wrote in an email to yorkregion.com. “ I have felt all along that Mr. Hay failed to take responsibility for his inappropriate conduct, about which, as OPP Commissioner at the time, I had a duty to address."

Hay’s lawyers in April had set out to prove, in part, that “the (human rights tribunal) took a compartmentalized approach to the evidence that avoided consideration of whether, based on the totality of the evidence, race was a factor (in his dismissal)," according to the factum.

The court rejected that argument, ruling the tribunal's decision was correct and there's no evidence anything Fantino did was motivated by racism.

Hay and his legal team have not yet decided whether they will appeal the court’s decision, lawyer Peter Rosenthal said.

The longtime police officer was hoping his legal battle would ultimately end with him getting his old job back, according to Rosenthal.

Hay spent 19 years with the RCMP before leaving to take up a post as chief of police of the Tyendinaga First Nation in eastern Ontario in 1998.

As required under provincial law, the OPP commissioner first appointed him as a First Nations constable.

During a protest in April 2007, Hay complained about police racism in an article published in a student newspaper.

In light of the comments, Fantino suspended then revoked Hay's appointment as a First Nations constable in October 2007, effectively ending his position as chief.

Normally, police officers in Ontario charged with misconduct have a right to a full hearing along with extensive rights of appeal under the Police Services Act, but that’s not the case for First Nations officers.

Hay argued unsuccessfully before the human rights tribunal that the different rules for aboriginal and non-aboriginal officers are discriminatory.

The court last week agreed with the tribunal’s ruling.

Hay had also argued his assertions of police racism were protected under the human rights code and Fantino's actions were retaliatory.

The tribunal dismissed those arguments as well and the court upheld that decision.