THUNDER BAY - The Rainy River First Nation and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation have won the right to appeal to a higher court to keep open to the public a hearing into whether or not officers involved in the 2015 Stacy DeBungee death investigation will be subject to a disciplinary hearing.
Last year, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director found there was sufficient evidence to substantiate allegations of neglect of duty on the part of three Thunder Bay Police Service officers who investigated the sudden death of DeBungee, whose body was found in the McIntyre River in 2015.
Disciplinary hearings under the Police Services Act are normally held within a six-month period, but because the OIPRD report took more than two years to complete, an extension of the timeline needed to be granted.
At the time, the Thunder Bay Police Services Board, which was also under investigation by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, decided it was unable to make the decision on whether to extend the timeline, so the question was deferred to an impartial person - retired judge Lee Ferrier.
Ordinarily in Ontario, a hearing about an extension is held in-camera, however, DeBungee’s home community of Rainy River First Nation and the CBC filed an application in Divisional Court to allow an open hearing.
The application was denied, with the court declaring that “the dangers inherent in making an extension application hearing open to the public overrode any benefit that would flow from doing so.”
Rainy River First Nation and CBC subsequently requested leave to appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal.
At a Thunder Bay Police Services Board meeting on Tuesday, lawyer Holly Walbourne informed the board about the results of that request.
“We just heard in the last month that that leave was granted,” she told the board. “So we will be going to the Court of Appeal to decide whether or not these applications should be heard in-camera.”
“I cannot give you a guaranteed timeline for the Court of Appeal. I cannot say for sure how long this will be going on.”
