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From convoys to gun control: CTV's public safety analyst looks back at some of the top issues of 2022
December 30, 2022
Police attempt to hand out notices on the 21st day of the

2022 was an interesting year in Canada, on a number of fronts, but for me, protests, senseless deaths, inquiries and legislative controversy dominated my world as CTV News’s Public Safety Analyst.

Here is a look back at some of the stories that stand out, listed chronologically:

1. The anti-government Freedom Convoy protests, which seriously disrupted some Canada-U.S. border crossings and a few major cities – most predominantly Ottawa, started 2022 off with serious challenges for law enforcement and all levels of government, and considerable public debate. Poor analysis of police intelligence and the lack of a solid strategy and pre-positioned resources to prevent the largest of the protests from taking root in the nation’s capital, led to weeks of playing catch-up. After the blockades in Windsor Ontario and Coutts, Alberta were dismantled by police, officers came to Ottawa in droves and eventually ended that mess as well. The Liberal federal government invoked the never before used “Emergencies Act” during the days between the police action in Windsor and Coutts and the Ottawa operation, claiming the legislation was requested by police, leading many to believe that act saved the day. The reality of that connection remains unclear.

2. The ongoing Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission into the horrendous 2020 mass murder there uncovered a number of failings on the part of the RCMP in terms of their operational response to the shooting as well as media, public and inter-agency notification processes. Quite significant details also emerged as evidence showed the RCMP Commissioner had directed investigators to publicly release specific details as to the makes and calibres of the firearms used by the killer against the wishes of the Nova Scotia RCMP leadership. This raised allegations and some denials regarding the federal government pressuring Commissioner Brenda Lucki to push for public disclosure of the firearm particulars in an effort to further their legislative agenda. We may never know the complete details with this situation, but it did not paint a good picture of the RCMP commissioner or her government masters in my view.

3. The subsequent legally-mandated hearing into the enactment of the Emergencies Act during the Freedom Convoy highlighted a number of lessons-learned from policing and local government perspectives, as well as critical disconnects between and within police and government agencies. It also became clear that although police leaders agreed it helped, they had never requested the legislation, claiming they finally had a robust plan formulated as well as sufficient resources to implement it, and still had a number of existing authorities and enforcement options available to them. Once again, apparent communications failings between the RCMP commissioner and the Liberal government loomed large, but in this case the Prime Minster and other key advisors and ministerial staff essentially threw Commissioner Lucki under the bus in their evidence. Following weeks of testimony and submissions, Justice Paul Rouleau is currently preparing his findings into the matter.

4. A September stabbing attack on the James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan resulted in 12 dead, including the two brothers responsible for the slayings. A number of community members were also injured. It required a significant response and then man-hunt for the killers, involving the RCMP and a number of municipal police services. Police communications and notification protocols worked very well throughout the massive operation and agencies seemed to effectively work shoulder-to-shoulder.

5. Four Canadian police officers were murdered in incidents occurring within weeks in the fall of 2022. The victims included a Toronto Police Constable; two South Simcoe Police constables; and a RCMP constable in Burnaby, BC. A fifth constable from the York Regional Police was killed by an impaired driver while commuting to work, during that same tragic period. It was a very difficult and emotional time for Canadian police officers, undoubtedly resulting in some questioning their career choice, families of officers growing increasingly concerned about the safety of their loved ones and many communities growing more vocally appreciative of their police officers. I remain confident that although public criticism of police seemed to be growing over the past few years, communities still largely value and trust their police. Our officers will resiliently move forward and continue to do what they do so well – bravely protect the public.

6. The latest amendments to Canada’s Bill C-21, the legislation originally focused on banning legal handgun sales in Canada, will make a number of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal within the parameters of our gun legislation, illegal. Hunters and sports-shooting advocates are understandably very concerned about the changes, given that statistically these guns are not a threat to public safety. Assault rifles and large-capacity magazines are already illegal, so it’s an ill-conceived stretch in my opinion to claim this expensive proposed ban of long-arms is a realistic approach to saving lives, any more than it would be to ban knives or cars. Additionally, the proposition of banning legal handgun purchases and sales makes no sense either, given our already robust handgun laws. None of this legislation will impact the real threat – smuggled handguns from the U.S.

7. Just prior to Christmas, a condo-owner north of Toronto shot and killed five residents of his building, in what may be the result of his long-simmering bad feelings towards the condo board there. Responding police took the gunman’s life on their arrival. There are many unanswered questions at this point as police and the SIU conduct their investigations, including the motive; the mental health issues involved; the origin and legality of the firearm used; and what in hindsight might have been done to prevent this tragedy from occurring.


And last but far from least, I no sooner submitted this article when I learned of the murder of OPP Constable Grzegorz Pierzchala in Haldimand County. A young, promising police life taken and it breaks my heart. More to come on that tragic story.


Wishing all a wonderful and safe holiday season and prosperous 2023. Please thank an emergency responder when you can and pray for their safety every day of the year ahead.

Chris Lewis served as Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police from 2010 until he retired in 2014. He can be seen regularly on CTV and CP24 giving his opinion as a public safety analyst.

Leadership involves risk, especially in policing

By Chris Lewis • March 28, 2026
Leadership is inundated with risk, every hour of every day, in all sectors. In policing, legislative authorities and established policy are the ever-present guideposts, but occasionally policy just doesn’t apply. At times someone has to just make a decision to do something, or not, or they will fail the public they serve and the personnel it is their duty to lead. If it goes bad, time to own up, do damage control, learn from it and move forward. It always frightened me when I saw some at the senior executive level in policing think that supervisors and managers operate in a pristine little bubble where nothing should ever go wrong. Then when it did because some supervisor tried their best to make something work for all the right reasons, they wanted to pigeon-hole the person that took the risk. There were times during my own career when executives were not encouraged to take any risk either. In fact, taking risk was career risk in itself. Despite the best of intentions, if it went bad, the one ‘responsible’ be forever labelled as having failed. Even if the gamble went well, the jaundiced eyes from above would still forever look at them as being a potential liability. It became the “Oh, him. He’s the one that...” At times the daily decision making of high-level commanders would be second-guessed by those in the executive suites – some of whom had never really commanded anything. My buddy retired Chief Wayne Frechette used to describe these folks as: “They’ve never been out after dark on company time.” I know this same concept was alive in many other police services. Some at executive levels actually did serve in operational roles at some point but they never took a risk. Somehow, they were fortunate to skate through difficult situations through sheer luck as opposed to good decision-making and never developed any scar tissue along the way. They didn’t learn from failure – they survived by luck. They also were viewed by weak executives above them as being golden because there was never a milli-second of negativity around them. They were Teflon. But those that worked under their “command” (for lack of a better word) had no respect for them. They simply watched them walk around with coffee in hand, never leaving the office or making a decision. It wasn’t leadership, but it did pave the way to stardom from on high, for some. True leaders do take risks at times. Many I worked with and for did it all and did it well. They did so in the best interests of those they served and those they led, because it wasn’t about themselves, but was done in the service of those that placed their trust in them. Policy simply doesn’t fit every situation. It is most often a guide that anticipates most circumstances that employees will face, particularly the more common (high-frequency) ones. But it cannot predict every possible scenario. When that happens in policing, it can occur in very unlikely situations (low-frequency) that are incredibly high-risk. Supervisors cannot say “Sorry folks, the book doesn’t cover this one” and run away crying. They also don’t have time to tell bad guys, “Hey big fella, sit tight. We need to take a pause here and get the whiteboard out so we can have a group-think about how to stop your murderous rampage.” I think that many pseudo-leaders – far too many, are afraid to make risky decisions out of fear that an error will jeopardize their career. Instead, they risk their careers by not making decisions. Or as I like to say: “their fear of career-risk, risks their careers.” This can be fatal in the policing world. When a police supervisor shirks their responsibilities or quivers, sucks their thumb, and prays for the situation to go away, thankfully constables will come forward and do their best to get their teammates through it. Sometimes that ends well and when the supervisor emerges from their fear-induced coma, they will more often than not take credit for the success. But when the situation goes to hell-in-a-handbasket – despite best efforts, the pseudo-leader will document the risk-taking employee and add another bullet-point to their list of things they’ve done to “hold people accountable.” The panel at their next promotional interview will likely hear the false rendition proudly told. I hear examples of this practise from serving police officers across North America on a much too frequent basis. True leaders develop a culture of trust among those they lead that their suggestions and feedback are encouraged and valued. Their confidence that the leader wants their input encourages them to constantly analyze situations and give thought to what policy says and the options available when policy says nothing. That is good for the employee’s development and may save the leader’s hind-end and the continuity of the team on occasion when an employee steps forward in a crisis. Having said that, there will clearly be situations where there isn’t time for the whiteboard, and a decision needs to be made by the responsible “leader.” When it doesn’t work out, the real leader will step forward and be accountable. But when it does go well, the true leader will allow the light to shine on the team they have the honour to lead. In my view, we’re not seeing enough of that in North American policing. We need more genuine leaders at all levels of law enforcement organizations. Developing and promoting real leaders that can manage risk effectively is a must. Anything less fails everyone.

Why Joint Forces Operations Are No Longer Optional

By Chris Lewis • March 26, 2026
They used to be simply a "nice to have."

Police investigating police: Is there another option?

By Chris Lewis • March 18, 2026
The March 17 th announcement by the Toronto Police Service (TPS) regarding the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) investigation into allegations by an Ontario Justice that three TPS officers colluded and lied during a 2024 murder trial against a man that ran over and killed TPS Constable Jeffrey Northrup in 2021, has further inflamed the debate over who should investigate alleged police wrongdoing. This instance combined with the recent arrests and ongoing police investigation into several TPS officers for their alleged involvement with organized crime, has brought this discussion to a boiling point. I appreciate the public perceptions around this investigative model given that the average citizen doesn’t necessarily understand the professionalism and commitment of police investigative teams like the recent OPP Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) group. I have all the confidence the world in that team, but I also personally know the ability and integrity of the OPP Detective Inspector in-charge. So, if these investigations aren’t carried out by police, who will do them? They do not fall under the mandate of the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which by the way is largely comprised of former police criminal investigators and forensic identification experts, many of whom investigated homicides in police services. For SIU to assume a larger role, they would have to grow exponentially and expand their team of ‘former cops’. These cases generally do not fall under the purview of Ontario’s Inspectorate of Policing either. They would loosely fall under the oversight role of Ontario’s Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA), who is responsible for receiving, managing and overseeing public complaints against police, but frankly they don’t have mandate or the horsepower to conduct complex criminal investigations. They oversee the “public complaints” that may lead to a criminal investigation, but the investigation would be the responsibility of a police service to conduct. An expansion of the LECA would require a tremendous amount of funding and human resources, most of whom would also be former police officers. Hiring and training civilians to conduct such investigations is an option, but largely an incomprehensible one. Police criminal investigators are trained officers that generally start out as uniformed officers responding to occurrences and investigating more routine and less serious crimes, i.e. minor assaults and property crimes. They build investigative expertise over time, including in interviewing and interrogation; gathering and securing physical evidence; legal processes like obtaining judicial authorizations; presenting evidence in court; and various investigative strategies. They learn how to work with special police units that provide specific investigative skills, and more. All of this doesn’t happen overnight, but over a period of years and with the tutelage of more experienced investigators along that journey. Trying to turn a group of young and well-educated civilians – no matter how intelligent and well-intended, into a team of elite investigators, would be a complete disaster and unfair to the public or to the officers being investigated. Over my many years as a member or as the Director of the OPP CIB, my colleagues and I investigated criminal allegations against cops from other agencies. Before the SIU was formed, we investigated officers from many Ontario police services – large and small, who had used deadly force. Many were cleared and a number were arrested and charged. We also investigated criminal allegations against police chiefs in Ontario. Again, several were appropriately cleared, and some were brought before the courts. Municipal, provincial and federal elected officials were similarly investigated and some charged. Our members also investigated police officers in other provinces, including high-ranking ones. I personally investigated two Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers that were involved in an arrest that result in the death of a suspect. They were properly exonerated, but I would have charged them in a heartbeat if they had wrongfully killed than man. I arrested an OPP Sergeant for sexual assault. A CIB colleague investigated and arrested two different OPP officers for criminal offences. Both of those officers had been personal friends of mine and years later committed suicide. There are tons of similar examples that I can refer to over my career. All of these involved the oversight and legal analysis of a Crown Attorney, sometimes from another province. The interesting thing, and what most of the anti-police folks will never believe, is that in every single one of those investigations, the dialogue that I was involved in with other officers that I worked with or supervised, involved doing what was right. In other words, “If the allegation is substantiated, we will put the case together, arrest them and put them before the courts.” Not even once, did we think about or do anything that would give an officer a pass when they committed a criminal offence. Never. I have every confidence in the world that the vast majority of municipal and RCMP colleagues across Canada would operate under the same guiding principle. Has the occasional officer worked in conflict with that approach? Undoubtedly. Were some investigators not as committed or capable as they should be and perhaps did a poor investigation accidentally or deliberately? Quite likely so. But I truly believe those cases are the exception, not the rule in criminal investigations. Where I more often believe poor investigations or deliberate attempts to inappropriately give a colleague a break continues to occur, is in Police Act investigations, where policy or employee harassment wrongdoings are suspected. I like to think that the focus on that continues to improve, but not fast enough in some cases. Sadly, I know now that unbeknownst to me at the time, it happened under my watch. A focus for my next article. The public and police deserve the very best of investigators to ensure that bad cops are effectively put out of business and good officers are cleared. If there’s another effective option that would appease the doubting public – aside from using current officers from other agencies or creating a new and costly entity that would be staffed by former police officers, I’d like to hear it.