Who is policing the police? Is civilian oversight needed in Aylmer, Ontario?

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

One thing that can be said about this pandemic is that it has brought some interesting societal topics to light. One that has been considered in the past, and is being looked at now is who holds police officers accountable. Who polices the police?

I realize that the question sounds paradoxical, but it is a question that needs to be answered, especially because it is crucial for upholding the rule of law.

Last spring, we saw what high levels of COVID-19 enforcement looks like: people ticketed for sitting alone on a park bench, people harassed for walking through their local park, questioned when they didn’t match an officer’s idea of what a ‘family’ is. Even with the unconstitutional regulations passed last week, police have still been given novel and concerning police power to enforce COVID-19 restrictions.

As much as police are the main institution responsible for law enforcement, they are capable of breaking the laws too. When this happens, civilian oversight of police is crucial for holding police accountable when they break the law or otherwise engage in wrongdoing.

Civilian oversight of police just means the oversight of police activities by people who are not active members of the police force; this can be: judges, politicians, even media. In Canada, there are two main types of civilian-led oversight mechanism: the first type receives complaints from the public concerning a police officer’s non-criminal misconduct, and the second type investigates police officers whose actions lead to serious injury or death.

On Sunday, April 17^th, 2021, I was privy to a situation where civilian oversight was needed. The team from the Carib101 Media group made the trip to Aylmer to visit the Church of God officiated by Pastor Henry Hilderbrandt.

The Church of God has been under police radar since the beginning of the pandemic. Pastor Hilderbrandt and his congregation have held firm to their fundamental freedoms that are stated in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

 “The charter guarantees everyone the freedom of conscience and religion; thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including freedom of the press and other means of communication; peaceful assembly; and association.”

They have done so without infringing on other’s rights, yet for some reason, the members of the church have been targeted in multiple ways. The question here is why?

Well, last year at the beginning of the pandemic, Premier Ford executed Bill 195 2020, An Act to enact the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020

 In section (3) the subject matters referred to in clause (2) (a) are the following:

1. Closing or regulating any place, whether public or private, including any business, office, school, hospital or other establishment or institution.
2. Prohibiting or regulating gatherings or organized public events.

 In section 7.0.2 (1) The purpose of making orders under this section is to promote the public good by protecting the health, safety and welfare of the people of Ontario in times of declared emergencies in a manner that is subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  2006, c. 13, s. 1 (4).

Before we go any further, I would like for everyone to take note of the last line.

This Bill is subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Let us continue.

There are some Criteria for emergency orders:

(2) During a declared emergency, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make orders that the Lieutenant Governor in Council believes are necessary and essential in the circumstances to prevent, reduce or mitigate serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property, if in the opinion of the Lieutenant Governor in Council it is reasonable to believe that, 

(a) the harm or damage will be alleviated by an order; and

(b) making an order is a reasonable alternative to other measures that might be taken to address the emergency.  2006, c. 13, s. 1 (4).

My question at this point is, are the members at the Church of God causing serious harm or substantial damage to anyone’s property? The argument might be that they are being selfish because they are opening up to the public and spreading COVID-19, but to that I say this. I am not sure if anyone has taken a trip to Costco lately. From what I have heard, Costco is as full as it has ever been. Here, people are wearing masks, and yet, for some reason, the numbers in the GTA have continued to spike.

Joyce Lock (Medical Officer of Health for Southwestern Public Health) previously stated factors contributing to Aylmer’s designation, as a hotspot are: workplace outbreaks, including the one at the police college (which infected more than 110 people), cases among long-term care residents, school cases, infections related to social gatherings and spread among large families and households.

As of April 20^th, 2021, Southwestern Public Health has logged 3,209 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Seventy-three people have died. Twelve new positive cases were recorded Tuesday, bringing the number of active cases in the area to 182, of which only three are in Aylmer. To date, Aylmer has seen 489 cases.

So to this I ask, why the constant harassment of Pastor Henry Hilderbrant, and the congregation at the Church of God in Aylmer. The police have been ticketing members of the church, including an elderly woman, continuously stalking members of the church, and just last weekend, police officers were on the church property (in the woods), taking pictures illegally.

This was discovered after members of the church found one of the officer’s phones, which was returned after the Aylmer police openly admitted that they had been lurking on private property during the service. I happened to be present for the phone story, and I could tell that the police were embarrassed. They had to eventually call and ask for their phone back.

This has been followed up by Aylmer police officers actually charging two Toronto police officers for visiting the Church of God, and on Sunday, April 25^th, 2021, another incident occurred, which included Aylmer officers subduing, and pinning down an autistic child.

All of this for three cases of COVID-19, with no cases tied to the Church of God.

Something is not right here.