Residents of Muskoka will soon know the eligibility requirements to be appointed to the OPP Detachment Board.
OPP Detachments Boards are established for individual OPP detachments across Ontario to set objectives and to provide consultation for the local community. District Team Lead Christina Kilbourne who presented the new eligibility criteria recently to District councillors stated that this focus on local perspective is at the heart of the development of these detachment boards.
“The reason that the ministry Solicitor General wants to create these local boards is just so that they can have more of a local flavour and meet the local needs better,” Kilbourne said.
In 2021 Muskoka District was charged with consulting municipalities, Indigenous communities and residents to determine the composition of both the Huntsville and Bracebridge OPP Detachments. After this consultation, it was decided that there would be a six-member board at the Huntsville Detachment and a 16-member board at the Bracebridge detachment.
The makeup of these boards must include one elected official from each representative municipality, one elected official from each representative First Nation Council, one community representative from each lower-tier municipality and First Nation, the District Chair and mandatory provincial appointees.
There has been further consultation to determine the eligibility for community members to be appointed to the board. First Nation representatives will be selected from criteria developed by those First Nations communities.
A preliminary list was presented to the Finance and Corporate Services Committee by Kilbourne on Wednesday. The list states that to be appointed a person must be 18 years of age or older, must live in the geographic area the OPP Detachment covers, must not have a criminal record and must not fall under a group involved in or related to law enforcement functions. This final provision includes Judges, Justice of the Peace, police officers, First Nations officers, prosecutors, defence lawyers, former police officers or any employee of a police provider.
Kilbourne made it clear that the provision which stipulates a person must live in the geographic area the OPP detachment covers is understood to allow seasonal residents to qualify.
“For absolute clarity. It means a person who resides in Muskoka, regardless of how long they reside in Muskoka,” Kilbourne said.
The District will not be able to implement its criteria until the implementation of enabling legislation from the Provincial government. Kilbourne stated that until this implementation from the Provincial government the District cannot fully detail what the appointments will look like.
“I think the best we can do is to provide as much information as the Minister of Solicitor General has available to us and perhaps outline what the process for creating the terms of reference are,” Kilbourne said.
Once the plan is finalized interested residents will be invited to apply for the board, with District Council vetting and subsequently appointing those who qualify.
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has this not been finalized at the provincial level yet? seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time for something that is really needed.