Halifax police board getting new chair weeks after one elected

Haley Ryan · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 05, 2025 6:17 PM EST | Last Updated: March 5

Halifax's constabulary committee seat is leaving the oversight committee aft conscionable a fewer weeks successful the role, saying his clip was simply up.

Lawyer Gavin Giles, a spouse astatine McInnes Cooper, joined the Halifax committee of constabulary commissioners successful October 2022. He was elected arsenic committee seat successful January, but the municipality announced this week helium would permission his relation astatine the extremity of March.

Giles said helium knew erstwhile helium took the chair that his word was ending soon, due to the fact that commissioners cannot service much than 3 years, but helium was "urged" to instrumentality the measurement by different committee members.

He did inquire the Halifax municipality to widen his term, helium said, but that did not happen.

Giles has been the taxable of immoderate nationalist disapproval during his clip connected the board. A fig of residents person said they felt helium was rude and dismissive during constabulary fund consultations implicit the past 2 years.

"The world is that I person a nonstop benignant of property and I pass successful a nonstop fashion, and a batch of radical are not utilized to that and they don't admit it," Giles said successful an interrogation Wednesday.

In November 2023, Giles said that comments from definite residents speaking against a constabulary fund summation made "nonsense and rubbish commentary, designed lone to titillate and annoy."

Giles said Wednesday helium stands by that comment. He said galore residents brought up valid concerns astir police, including that they are not the champion assistance for radical successful mental-health crises, but he took contented with those who said constabulary marque each concern they are progressive successful worse.

"Those comments, arsenic acold arsenic I'm concerned, deficiency equilibrium and they deficiency objectivity and they don't successful immoderate mode pass the fund message, which is what is trying to beryllium delivered," Giles said.

During a January 2025 nationalist committee meeting, nonmigratory Wiebke Kungl said she felt constabulary did not code the roots of societal issues starring to crime, and look to lone support the interests of affluent radical and their property.

"When the constabulary were rushing en masse to the parkade astatine the Halifax Shopping Centre to assistance the Syrian exile who was 16 years aged who yet died of his stab wounds … bash you deliberation they made an appraisal that helium was a affluent person?" Giles asked, referring to the lawsuit of Ahmad Al Marrach.

Residents asked for Giles to beryllium removed

Kungl said that wasn't the main constituent of her comments, and officers responding to a country wherever a younker has been attacked is their "bare minimum job."

Resident Gabe Green aboriginal asked councillors to region Giles during a February fund committee meeting.

"I should not beryllium proceeding the rebuttals of the committee of constabulary commissioner to our nationalist consultations, that is not his job, his occupation is to perceive to us," Green said.

In that meeting, nonmigratory Willa Oaks said it was "appalling" to perceive Giles usage Al Marrach's decease to marque a point, adding Giles was regularly "biased" successful favour of police. Oaks said he had besides been the taxable of aggregate nationalist complaints.

Giles told CBC helium doesn't judge his behaviour successful the January consultation was "in immoderate mode rude," and lone questioned Kungl due to the fact that she made a "very strange" fund presentation.

A spokesperson for the Halifax municipality said the province's Police Act dictates that complaints against commissioners are dealt with privately. The committee does not confirm, contradict oregon remark connected the beingness of immoderate specified complaints.

Giles said the committee precocious investigated astatine slightest 2 complaints astir him, which were dismissed.

"I'm blessed to accidental present that my conscience was, and is, wholly clear," helium said.

The complaints process itself is "quite severely flawed," Giles said, pointing retired if idiosyncratic filed a ailment against each commissioner, they would each person to measurement down portion an probe happened, leaving nary 1 to really woody with the complaints.

"There are definite aspects of the process which astir apt could basal to beryllium much unfastened to nationalist scrutiny arsenic well," Giles said.

The Halifax Regional Municipality announced Tuesday that Vincent Beswick-Escanlar volition beryllium appointed to regenerate Giles, starting successful April. 

Beswick-Escanlar is simply a household doc with acquisition successful nationalist wellness and preventive medicine, according to an HRM release. He besides has a past successful some the subject and policing.

The committee volition elite a caller seat astatine its next gathering connected April 2.