Recommendation 7

Police services should access supplementary training relevant to POU context and this training should be centrally coordinated to best prepare Ontario POUs

The CSPA now requires that every police officer assigned functions of a POU must complete mandated training provided by OPC. OPC now provides training on safe crowd management and maintaining public order, supervision of a POU and tactical command. In addition, police services are encouraged to continue additional, ongoing joint training and learning between services. It is recommended that such initiatives be identified centrally and coordinated through the Ontario Public Order Hub. 

Further, services should consider supplementing mandated training with education that is specific to the context in which they are policing. For example, further education to improve relations, foster cultural understanding and historic injustices experienced by Indigenous communities, and the historic and/or geo-political subtext driving current demonstrations and protests, may assist with approaches that are culturally sensitive to further support effective communication and management of such events. 

Police services should continually access and contribute to the continued development of training to assist police officers performing public order functions in properly applying the full range of existing provisions in the Criminal Code, provincial law, and municipal by-laws in circumstances where hate-based offences and other offences related to protests, demonstrations and occupations are occurring. 

These events are not confined to Ontario but often cross provincial boundaries, requiring coordinated responses across the country. This underscores the importance of ensuring that Canadian, provincial, territorial, and municipal laws strike a responsive balance between the public's freedom of expression and assembly and the right of others to conduct their activities safely. Accordingly, the Ministry of the Solicitor General should engage provincial, territorial, and federal governments to review the legal framework governing protests in Canada to ensure this framework remains relevant and responsive, having regard to more recent experience and learnings across the country. This review should consider expertise from a range of sectors that can provide advice, including policing, legal, civil liberties, and other sectors.