The History Of The Ottawa Police Association
The Ottawa Police Association
Attempts to form a police association during the administration of Chief Constable Alexander M. Ross had resulted, in the beginning, with many officers being dismissed. “As a para-military body, the police force operated under strict, authoritarian discipline, and any attempt to organize the lower ranks would have been seen as tantamount to mutiny". This experience discouraged any further attempts to organize the Ottawa Police for nearly three decades.
A major portion of the credit for the formation of the Ottawa Police Association is due to its President, Sergeant Major Thomas “Tommy" Knight. At the beginning, the Police Association operated under the guise of the Ottawa Police Athletic Association whose events raised funds for the members Police Hospital Fund. Thomas Knight’s executive ability in organizing intercity athletic competitions naturally led him to become President of the Police Association.
In 1933, the Police Association of Ontario (PAO) had been founded to deal with police matters with a greater sense of common identity. For several years, the PAO was primarily an organization of police chiefs and senior officers. However, an association of police officers from the rank and file was needed to represent members of the police force and express their concerns – the need for concerted action to improve police service and to improve police salaries – a bargaining body to look after the member’s benefits. An amendment to the Police Act in 1947 gave the police the legal right to organize as collective bargain agencies. However, it demanded approval of fifty percent of the Force. After considerable explaining, persuading and recruiting, a general meeting was held on November5th, 1948, attended by visiting Provincial Association Executive members.
This meeting saw Thomas Knight installed as President; Constable Bob Parks – First Vice President; Constable Roger Fauteux – Second Vice President; Constable Roland Beauchamp – Treasurer; Constable Carl Norton – Secretary; and an Executive Board made up of Sergeant Major Dion, Constable Lewis Guertin, Constable Lloyd Stevenson, Constable Louis Stevens and Constable Albert McConnell. Jack McCullough and Roderick Grant were also involved in the organization of the Association. Thus, the Ottawa Police Association was formed.
Through pressure from the Board of Commissioners of Police and the Mayor, Charlotte Whitton, Chief MacDonell immediately suspended Knight and Parks and several others for attempting to organize a meeting of Force personnel, without his permission. Knight and Parks appealed to the Attorney General of Ontario, stating that since the Association had signed up over half the Force, it had a legitimate right to exist. The Attorney General concurred and Chief MacDonell was forced to re-instate the organizers.
By 1951, through a great deal of “missionary work", the whole of the Ottawa Police, one hundred percent, were members of the Ottawa Police Association. From that year on, the Ottawa Police Association has been involved in salary negotiations and working conditions on behalf of the members of the Ottawa Police. Demands on the Police Association’s Executive Committee was increasing. Contractual agreements consumed a lot of time and energy. Its representation increased. Due to amendments to the Police Act, the Association also began representing civilian members in 1966. On the 1st of March, 1970, the Board of Commissioners of Police was informed that Meryle A. Cameron was appointed to full-time Executive Officer of the Association and that he was taking a leave of absence from the Ottawa Police.
The Association responsibilities’ increased from bargaining salaries to the member’s benefits, life insurance, medical and dental care, hospitalization, prescription drugs and long-term disabilities as well as overseeing pension payments and retiree protection. Former Chief of Police Thomas Welsh stated in a local newspaper that “The Association has a vital role to play in the affairs of the Department. As Chief, I looked on the Association as a positive force serving a real need. That is one of the reasons it was formed – because it is important to not only the members but the Department as a whole." Thus the Ottawa Police Association has become an integral part of the police system.
*Excerpted from The History of the Ottawa Police 1826 – 1993 by Gilles M. Larochelle
There have been many who served as President of the Ottawa Police Association: Thomas Knight (1948 – 1951), Carl Norton (1951 – 1956), James Flahven (1956 – 1963), Charles Fagan (1963 – 1966), Meryle Cameron (1966 –1978 and 1980 – 1984), Wilmot Glenn (1978 – 1980 and 1984 – 1986) and John Petersen (1986 – 1999).
