Brutality Canada Police Brutality O Canada

OPP under fire for `racist' e-mails

Richard Brennan
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU

Provincial police staff in northeastern Ontario are being investigated for e-mailing autopsy photographs of an Indian woman along with racist slurs.

``They were autopsy photos of a native Canadian and there were racist comments attached,'' one source told The Star yesterday. ``They are extremely rude and racist.''

The information was confirmed by other government sources.

``It was photographs of a native that was either a suicide or a murder,'' another source said.

OPP Superintendent Rick Kotwa said there has been a six-month internal investigation by the OPP's professional standards bureau into ``inappropriate'' use of the government computer system by more than 60 uniformed officers and civilians. He said the probe should be completed in about a month.

A similar investigation by the natural resources ministry of its staff in northeastern Ontario ended last month, resulting in the firing of six of its workers and the reprimand of 183 others for swapping nude photos and relaying racist jokes. One of the conservation officers fired was six months from retirement.

A government source said the racial comments attached to the autopsy photographs of the native woman, whose body had been cut open, were ``disgusting.''

According to one source, one comment was: ``steak knives are good for more than just steaks.''

According to sources, the photos were disseminated by an OPP sergeant and given to a Ministry of Natural Resources enforcement manager. Neither have been reprimanded so far.

Another source said one of the other photos transmitted by e-mail was of a man stretched out on a hospital gurney who was believed to be dead, but is actually alive and under OPP investigation in a criminal matter.

Kotwa refused to confirm reports about the photos but acknowledged material was transmitted.

``There have been some inappropriate e-mails and the transmission of digital images between OPP employees and Ministry of Natural Resources employees,'' he said.

He added that ministry staff tipped the OPP about the incidents.

An OPP official said that if the allegations are true, it will have a devastating effect on relations with natives. They have been strained since 1995, when an OPP officer fatally shot unarmed native protester Dudley George at Ipperwash Provincial Park.

Solicitor-General Dave Turnbull could not be reached for comment.

A natural resources official said the ministry investigation found 189 government e-mail accounts with pictures and jokes contravening Ontario's Workplace Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Policy.

Brett Kelly, a spokesperson for Natural Resources Minister John Snobelen, said the ministry has taken ``this very seriously and that has been reflected in the punishment.''

A source said that so far OPP employees involved in the incidents have simply had time docked from their overtime bank.

But Kotwa said OPP is taking the allegations seriously and ``appropriate disciplinary action'' will be taken.

OPP staff can't claim they didn't know their behaviour was improper, he added.

``OPP employees have a user acknowledgment when they log on that says `it shall be used for government purposes only and you shall not access, store or transmit any offensive information or transmit inappropriate messages and that the appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken' and they have to press `OK' after having read that.''

OPP officers could face penalties under the Ontario Police Services Act, ranging from reprimand to dismissal.

Civilians fall under the Ontario Public Service Act, which has provisions ranging from suspension to firing for such offences.

The Ontario government has a contract with a firm that monitors internet use throughout the government, but there is less control over e-mail, especially incoming e-mail.

Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law.

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This page created July 8, 2001