Liberal government refuses NDP call for the release of the report into the shooting death of Andrew Loku

Ontario NDP Attorney General critic and Deputy Leader, Jagmeet Singh, called on Premier Wynne to commit to publicly releasing the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) report on the investigation into the shooting death of Andrew Loku by police. 

“For the sake of public confidence in Ontario’s oversight of police, it is essential to have details on how the SIU conducted this investigation, how it handled evidence and other background information,” explained Singh, MPP for Bramalea-Gore-Malton.

A formal investigation by the SIU into the death of Andrew Loku, a 45-year-old father of five from South Sudan shot by police in Toronto last summer, was finished a month ago.

While Premier Wynne spoke about the recently announced coroner's inquest into the shooting death in her answer, she would not commit to a public release of the secret SIU report that concluded charges weren’t warranted.

Following question period, Ontario’s Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur made it explicitly clear to reporters — repeating “No” four times — that the SIU report would not be made public.

Citing the work of grassroots groups like Black Lives Matter to demand reforms to address systemic racism, Singh demanded to know how the Attorney General could ignore the report for over a month, only reading it after increasing criticism from the media. 

“Given the serious concerns members of the community have repeatedly raised regarding ‎systemic racism in our society, practices like carding, and after the death of a racialized man, you would think the minister would understand the importance of reading a report like this,” said Singh. “Why did it take over a month for the minister to read the report?”