Hold Police Accountable!

This event has already taken place.

The Ottawa Police Services Board is holding its first hybrid meeting in three years on Monday June 22 at 4 PM.

While the virtual component of council and committee meetings is essential for ensuring transparency and comfort of all wishing to attend, the physical meeting space empowers residents to hold councillors accountable for their decision making and its impacts on our community.

Registration

The deadline to sign up as a delegate is this Friday, June 19, and the meeting is on Monday, June 22, 4 PM in the Champlain Room at City Hall (110 Laurier).

Unlike other committees, the OPSB requires delegates to submit the full text of their delegations in advance to register. You can send your delegation and request to speak to [email protected]. Include the item you wish to speak about in your email.

Once you've sent an email to register, you can let us know you're attending with the signup form on this page (scroll down on mobile).

Delegation topics

In general, we are recommending that delegates focus on the importance of the OPSB fulfilling their role in holding the police accountable and allowing the public to be a vocal and active part of this process. There are also several major issues on the agenda that are worth speaking about:

9.3 OC Transpo Special Constables Unit – Annual Report 2025
9.4 Rebuilding Trust: Addressing Sexual Harassment, Culture and Accountability
9.5 Annual Use of Force Report – 2025
9.6 Body Worn Camera Deployment – Response to Board Motion
- approve that the Ottawa Police Service proceed with the purchase of body-worn cameras as it has fully responded to the Board Motion tabled at the April 27, 2026, Board Meeting.
9.7 Ottawa Police Service Facial Recognition Initiative
- That the Ottawa Police Service Board approve the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) proceeding with onboarding into the York/Peel/Halton shared Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) network, including the initial authorization to initiate Phase 1 of the project.
9.9 Ottawa Police Service Workplace Culture
9.10 Ottawa Police Service Annual Report – 2025
9.11 Ottawa Police Service Board 2024-2027 Strategic Plan: Key Performance Indicators Report
9.12 Performance Report – First Quarter 2026
9.13 Professional Standards Unit - 2025 Annual Report

So why has the Services Board been meeting only virtually?

At their last hybrid meeting in November 2022, a group of Ottawa residents in attendance refused to leave until their questions were answered.

Amongst other things, they asked whether the police budget would be subject to a line-by-line audit (like every other committee budget) and whether the board would commission a human-rights-based review of the Police Service. Instead of receiving an answer, a delegate was arrested and another banned from attending future meetings.

To further limit resident participation, the board amended its bylaws, requiring delegates to submit their remarks in writing for approval prior to the meeting date. So if you’d like to speak at a Monday meeting, the board must receive and approve your comments by the previous Friday at noon. The courts have affirmed that the board has applied these restrictions to delegates selectively, violating residents freedom of expression.

So now, three years later, let’s make sure they feel our presence and contempt for police misconduct by showing up as a united front at Monday’s meeting.