The disciplinary tribunal for Doug Ford’s police officer son-in-law is happening now
There is way less drama in basket-weaving
Premier Doug Ford has been doling out career advice lately.
There was the helpful “go find a job” tip last November, directed at protestors who opposed Bill 60, and just yesterday he enlightened us with more high-level guidance, telling university students not to enrol in “basket-weaving courses.” (This is so they can make enough money to repay their student loans, the burden of which the provincial government just significantly increased.)
Related: In response to police corruption arrests, Doug Ford says “there’s always a few bad apples”
But what about racking up 12 police act charges for discreditable conduct, breach of confidence and insubordination?
Ford’s son-in-law, a Toronto police officer named Ernest “Dave” Haynes, is currently facing all of the above and testified at a disciplinary tribunal on Friday. He disputed the charges against him, and claimed he had been demoted after whistleblowing about alleged procedural problems within policing. Haynes says he brought up complaints of understaffing and burnout levels among officers, and was met with reprisal. (The Toronto Police Service has denied Haynes’ claim, according to Toronto Today, and maintains that Haynes is in trouble for his conduct at work.)
Haynes is alleged to have forwarded confidential police emails to outside parties, including his wife, Krista, who is Ford’s daughter. The TPS also says he undermined the police chief in mass emails, and posted about internal policing matters to social media. According to CBC, Haynes posted to Instagram, “FOR ALL OF THOSE who wonder why police officers don’t speak up. They get punished with zero support.”
Per Toronto Today’s report from the tribunal, Haynes’ lawyer, Bath-Shéba van den Berg, says he experienced “bullying and isolation” for daring to criticize operational issues within the TPS.
The tribunal’s cross-examination continues this week.
Related: The province has finally paid its $97-million portion of FIFA World Cup funding
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
