GUYSBOROUGH — Less than one year after the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) selected members of the public to sit on its new police advisory committee, those same members are raising concerns about the committee’s effectiveness and function.
During a May 21 council meeting, Lois Ann Dort and Brent MacLeod – two of three original citizen appointees – told councillors that the arrangement, which has them reporting during quarterly RCMP updates at council sessions, is not working.
“This whole setup is not conducive to [discussion],” said Dort. “I think, in other places, one councillor attends the police advisory committee and then they report back to council. I would like to see that set up.”
She added: “Having it during regular work hours is also not conducive to having volunteers that can actually sit on the board.”
“This feels like giving a report,” she continued. “Plus, if there’s more sensitive issues, I don’t know that we want to be talking about them … in council.”
MacLeod agreed, noting that all three members – including Catherine Marsden, who has reportedly resigned – had previously concluded that police advisory committee meetings should take place separately from council. “Maybe we’ll meet like the month before … just Natasha, Lois Ann and myself to go over things … and then we can bring that to council,” he said.
Dort proposed a different structure later in the meeting. “I don’t think that we need to be here at all … how I’ve seen it before in other councils was that we had the police advisory committee as a separate meeting, and then the council member who came to those committee meetings reported to council. I thought that was a good format.”
Dort also pointed to the lack of training or orientation for committee members. “They certainly didn’t ask us for any kind of training. And I’m officially the provincial appointee, so if anybody was supposed to do more training, it would have been me.”
The committee was established last June under provincial order after the provincial justice department directed MODG to form a police advisory board or municipal board of police commissioners for the first time in more than a decade. Marsden, MacLeod, and Dort — the province’s designated ministerial appointee — were selected by council from a public call for applications.
On May 21, Dort raised the possibility that the third seat was vacant. “If our third member has resigned, then we should advertise for someone else,” she said. In response, Warden Paul Long confirmed that “there’s been a recent resignation.”
Both Dort and MacLeod emphasized the need for greater public awareness and engagement. “People don’t want to go to the RCMP,” said MacLeod. “They’re afraid … To know they have somebody they can come and talk to that will take it on to the RCMP and address their concerns — I think that’s important.”
“What the public needs to realize,” he added, “is that we can be the liaisons, so they can bring their concerns to us, and then we can bring them to the RCMP.”
Council members acknowledged the issues. Long said staff would work with the RCMP to develop a more effective structure.
“There was a different arrangement because of the setup that we have … We’ll work something out that’s going to be more amenable to having those discussions, and whether or not it’s somewhere outside … this [structure].”
Council also confirmed the vacancy and committed to seeking a replacement through public advertising.
Councillor Susan Cashin noted that advisory training had once been offered and should be again. “Quite a few years ago, I was asked to sit on a committee,” she said. “It never happened, but I went on a full-day training … there was a lot more than just sitting here and giving a report.”
The next police advisory meeting has not yet been scheduled.
