A local defence lawyer claims she was backed into a corner and intimidated by a member of Sault Ste. Marie Police Service (SSMPS) during an incident that allegedly took place earlier this month.
In a complaint filed with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), Naomi Sayers — an Indigenous lawyer from Garden River First Nation who was recently turned down for the Liberal nomination for Sault Ste. Marie’s provincial riding in the upcoming Ontario election — alleged that she was ordered by a member of SSMPS to go into the police station before being cornered and intimidated by the officer.
The OIPRD is an independent civilian oversight agency that handles public complaints about municipal, regional and provincial police in Ontario.
“I am making this report out of fear for my own safety,” said Sayers in the OIPRD complaint, obtained by SooToday. “I am legitimately and validly scared.”
Sayers said that she mistakenly asked for the specific officer when she showed up at the main entrance of police headquarters April 4 because of his involvement in an unrelated court matter.
She said the officer then directed her to go inside the police station. A disagreement between them regarding the intentions behind her visit ensued, according to her written complaint.
SooToday has chosen not to identify the police officer at this time because it’s not known if the OIPRD has made a decision to proceed with an investigation. The OIPRD told SooToday that it cannot confirm the receipt of a complaint or provide any related information with respect to a complaint due to a confidentiality provision in the Police Services Act.
“We were standing right inside the station in front of the clerk’s station,” Sayers wrote. “He was quite close. He then took his right hand and directed me to go further inside, and then directed me further inside and toward the corner. It was in that moment that I felt I could not leave as I was alone in the station and felt that if I had tried to leave, [the officer] would try to invoke his broad powers to arrest me. It was, in any event, very clear that I was not here to see him and I was attempting to try to remedy that by trying to leave. However, [the officer] took it upon himself to put me in that corner.
“By placing me in that corner, I felt he was deliberately trying to abuse his power by talking to me about a file I clearly was not there to discuss.”
Sayers posted a video of the alleged interaction to social media days after the incident.
In the OIPRD complaint, Sayers asserts that she was intimidated by the officer because of who she is.
“I am an Indigenous woman first before I am a lawyer,” she wrote. “I will experience harassment and discrimination because I am an Indigenous person first, then a woman. I believe that I experienced this intimidation by [the officer] because I am an Indigenous woman lawyer who appeared at the station alone.
“On that day, I felt alone and unsafe, and continue to do so because of [the officer’s] intimidation of me, a lawyer in a then-active file.”
Sault Ste. Marie Police Service declined comment.
According to the OIPRD website, investigations into complaints must be completed within six months under the Police Services Act. Longer investigations require that the relevant police services board request an extension.
Complaints regarding police conduct are to be completed within 120 days once a decision is made to retain or refer a complaint for investigation.
A complaint can be referred for investigation to the police service in question or another police service for investigation with OIPRD oversight. Complaints involving more serious allegations or complaints that are more complex in nature are retained for investigation by OIPRD.
All complaints will end up with one of three possible outcomes: unsubstantiated, substantiated less serious or substantiated serious.
The OIPRD received 10 complaints from the public regarding Sault Ste. Marie Police Service in the first three months of 2022.