logo
Councillor with correctional officer background poised to join police board

Councillor with correctional officer background poised to join police board

Coun. Evan Duncan will be nominated to become the next member of the Winnipeg Police Board.
The Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood councillor notes a ratification vote will be held at Thursday's city council meeting, after council members informally recommended him for the job.
If approved, he will fill a vacancy created when Mayor Scott Gillingham resigned from the board in June.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood councillor Evan Duncan will be nominated to become the next member of the Winnipeg Police Board at a ratification vote to be held at Thursday's city council meeting.
'For me, with my justice background… I hope that I can work with the (police) chief and his deputies and, obviously, the board to find some solutions to prioritize public safety first and foremost… to make sure that Winnipeg can improve upon the current state of safety because it's not good,' said Duncan.
While he noted the police board is not permitted to direct specific WPS operations, Duncan said he would push for federal bail reform to reduce the risk caused by repeat offenders.
'I see that there are a lot of people that are out on our streets that are dangerous. I see a lot of people that are getting way too many chances and that ultimately lies with the federal government and the criminal code and how that's interpreted,' said Duncan.
He also sees a need for efforts to improve the morale of front-line officers, noting police interactions are often recorded on video by the public and scrutinized.
'The job of police men and women is a very difficult one, so I think it all comes… down to the morale and making sure that when these folks are doing their job that they're being supported,' said Duncan.
Before being elected as a city councillor, Duncan worked for Manitoba Justice. He first worked as a youth correctional officer and juvenile councillor. Following that, he took on a role in the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder youth justice program, then worked for the provincial government as an investigator in the security intelligence branch.
Duncan stressed his job experience taught him that offering the right supports and resources is key to ensuring young offenders have the best chance at rehabilitation.
'My primary focus when I worked with youth in custody was how to set them up for success,' he said.
The chairman of the Winnipeg Police Board believes Duncan will bring valuable experience to the role.
'Coun. Duncan has a background in justice coming from the province, more specifically with youth justice, and I think that's a strong addition on the board,' said Coun. Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River).
Chambers said WPS has recently focused on tackling youth crime, including through Project Surge, which allows police to seek social supports for youths repeatedly involved in violent crime.
'I think (Duncan's background) will lend itself to some of the issues the board is facing now (with) youth crimes, violent crimes… We want to make sure we have a strategy in place,' he said.
Wednesdays
Sent weekly from the heart of Turtle Island, an exploration of Indigenous voices, perspectives and experiences.
Chambers said Duncan could also help identify proactive measures to support youth.
'Working with youth, identifying what their needs are (can help us)… make sure that youth have something to do in the community, as opposed to turning to crime and gangs,' he said.
If city council approves, Chambers said Duncan's appointment would take effect immediately.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
X: @joyanne_pursaga
Joyanne PursagaReporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Ottawa silent on replacements as special ambassador positions open up
Ottawa silent on replacements as special ambassador positions open up

Winnipeg Free Press

time2 days ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Ottawa silent on replacements as special ambassador positions open up

OTTAWA – The Carney government is not saying whether it will keep appointing ambassadors on themes championed by the Trudeau cabinet, now that terms are lapsing for Ottawa's envoys on climate and women in security. But a prominent observer of the foreign service says it's likely Ottawa will fill these roles by autumn. Catherine Stewart, Canada's ambassador for climate change, left her post in March. Her term was set to expire at the end of this month. Prime Minister Mark Carney waits to speak during a tour of a steel manufacturing facility in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young Also in March, and just days after Prime Minister Mark Carney took office, Jacqueline O'Neill's term as Canada's ambassador for women, peace and security ended on schedule. Both posts were created to advance Canadian values abroad. The federal government also announced in December the creation of an Arctic ambassadorship. The government has not said when that post might be filled. Canadian LGBTQ+ groups have called for years for Ottawa to appoint a special ambassador for LGBTQ+ rights, similar to the one France has and the U.S. had under the previous Biden administration. Carney's office did not respond when asked if he would appoint an LGBTQ+ envoy, maintain the postings that have lapsed or appoint an Arctic ambassador. Questions on envoys come as the government asks Global Affairs Canada to find budget cuts of 7.5 per cent starting next spring — part of the government's efforts to meet defence spending targets. Global Affairs Canada said it's up to cabinet to decide whether Ottawa will appoint an envoy for women, peace and security, or WPS. Department spokeswoman Brittany Fletcher said that the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 'continues to be co-ordinated by Global Affairs Canada, and is supported by nine other federal partner departments and agencies.' WPS diplomacy recognizes the disproportionate impact of war on women and girls and promotes their leadership in peacebuilding and conflict prevention. Canada has been a champion of WPS since the Stephen Harper's Conservative government. Canada appointed a WPS ambassador in 2019, using a strategic framework that noted Ottawa had 'developed a reputation for leadership' in the field while acknowledging that the concept had faced 'powerful backlash' abroad. 'Some long-standing champions of WPS are faltering in their support, and opponents are exploiting their disunity,' the framework noted. Katrina Leclerc, chair of the Women, Peace and Security Network-Canada, said it's 'deeply concerning' that the ambassador's post has been vacant for four months. Leclerc told The Canadian Press it's important to have a point person to co-ordinate the work of civil society, government departments and international colleagues. 'While a policy or national action plan is important, without institutional leadership like the ambassador, implementation risks becoming fragmented or deprioritized,' she said in an email. 'This is not merely a symbolic role — it provides the necessary structure and strategy to embed WPS priorities across Canada's diplomacy, development and defence portfolios.' She noted that Carney initially scrapped a ministerial role dedicated to gender equality before restoring it in response to public blowback. 'At a time when we're witnessing democratic backsliding, conflict and gender-based violence globally, Canada's absence of a WPS ambassador risks signalling a step back from its feminist commitments,' she wrote. Environment Canada said it's up to the cabinet to decide whether to appoint a new ambassador for climate change, on the advice of the foreign affairs and environment ministers. Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat and vice-president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said he expects the various appointments to be made this fall. 'We don't have to make these appointments, really, until September,' he said. 'I wouldn't read anything into the fact that these positions have lapsed.' Robertson said Carney has a keen interest in foreign policy and is probably looking at people who would be good ambassadors, including people from outside the foreign service. Carney likely is looking for envoys with the political savvy to manage delicate relations with the U.S. while advancing Canada's distinct interests, Robertson said. 'He's probably got several lists in front of him and he's mulling them over,' he said. 'He moves quickly, but he also spends attention.' The federal government says it does intend to name a new special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism. Deborah Lyons retired from the role three months before the scheduled end of her term. Canadian Heritage department spokeswoman Ines Akué said that 'a new special envoy will be appointed in due course.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2025.

Fraud suspect wanted by Windsor police
Fraud suspect wanted by Windsor police

CTV News

time5 days ago

  • CTV News

Fraud suspect wanted by Windsor police

Windsor police are looking to identify a suspect wanted in connection to a fraud investigation. July 6, 2025. (Source: WPS) Windsor police are turning to the public for assistance in identifying a suspect wanted in connection to a fraud investigation. On July 6, a woman entered a convenience store in the 7600 block of Tecumseh Road East, where police say she allegedly used a tampered Nevada-style break-open ticket to fraudulently claim a $200 prize. The suspect is described as a white female, 30 to 40 years old, with a heavy build, light skin tone and blonde hair. At the time of the incident, she was wearing a black leotard-style outfit. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Financial Crimes Unit at 519-255-6700, ext. 4330. - By Dustin Coffman, AM800

Digital sovereignty is a means to an uncertain goal
Digital sovereignty is a means to an uncertain goal

Globe and Mail

time6 days ago

  • Globe and Mail

Digital sovereignty is a means to an uncertain goal

Jamie Duncan is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto and a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. Wendy H. Wong is a professor of political science, the Principal's Research Chair at the University of British Columbia, and the author of We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age, which won the 2024 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy. Canadians have been a bit touchy about sovereignty lately, and for good reason. The 'elbows up' attitude that swept the country in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive antics has inspired a newfound enthusiasm for Canadian nation-building. One of the more aspirational aspects of Prime Minister Mark Carney's vision for our country is the idea that we can achieve digital sovereignty while enhancing our effectiveness in other sectors, like energy and Arctic security. Canada has its first Minister of AI and Digital Innovation, who has a broad mandate to bring AI innovation home and promote Canada's digital sovereignty. But even if such a thing were possible, there is no clear vision of what we'd do with it. 'Digital sovereignty' has become a catchphrase in global politics. Essentially, the idea is that countries want more control over the many parts of the digital economy that affect them, including hardware, software and data. Lately, this has meant focusing on AI. Sovereignty typically means having control over a specific place. It's the ability to make and enforce rules (for the most part) without interference. In the physical world, it's easy to picture a country expanding control. For example, building a military base in the Arctic helps Canada protect the area and enforce laws. But sovereignty isn't just about defence; it also applies to daily life. Energy or food sovereignty means producing more of what we need at home, so others can't raise prices or cut off supply. Canada's $2-billion AI computing plan could wind up helping foreign tech giants But digital spaces are fundamentally different from Arctic territory or oil fields. Digital sovereignty means being able to control Canada's digital destiny – which is easier said than done. From access to endless educational resources to bingeable TV in every language, the internet has its perks. But to make our digital choices truly 'ours,' we must acknowledge how our connected world affects our national sovereignty. Nearly every part of our online lives is somehow enabled by foreign companies. Data from more than 30 million Canadian social media users pour through our physical borders and into the hands of multinational companies. Consider Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, all owned by U.S. company Meta. And from the military to the local corner store, almost every part of the Canadian government and economy relies on digital infrastructure and software provided by American tech companies. Nor is there much respect for Canada's physical border among cybercriminals. Ransomware or a cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme can affect anyone from Squamish, B.C., to Ingonish, N.S. – but the perpetrators could be almost anywhere in the world. Digital technologies comprise some combination of infrastructure (servers, cables and the grid), services (or apps) and data streams. Canada's digital sovereignty aspirations around AI hinge on our ability to set and enforce rules about the three major components of those systems: data, code and compute. Data – the lifeblood of the digital economy – are what make fancy large language models and the TikTok algorithm work so well. Data are also responsible for many of their biases and blind spots. Opinion: If a toaster burns you, you can sue. But if Big Tech burns you, you're out of luck Computer code instructs these tools to turn data into something useful or profitable. Code is the secret sauce that transforms an (often patented) idea into cash. And none of this could happen without computing power, or compute. While you can store data and write code on your laptop, most commercial services run in the cloud. And while that may sound dreamy and far away, the cloud is just a bunch of data centres: big buildings filled to the brim with computers designed to process and store enormous quantities of data. Digital sovereignty requires considering several trade-offs simultaneously. Building data centres gives us more capacity to process and store the massive volume of data being harvested daily, but this compute and this data don't do much without equally powerful algorithmic tools. And all the data, while potentially insightful, are of dubious value if we do not have a coherent rationale that justifies and regulates the collection, storage and use of data taken from mostly unaware people. Canada's digital policy efforts over the past decade have mostly failed to strike an effective balance. The pan-Canadian AI strategy has helped some of the world's top AI researchers advance their fields and train the next generation of innovators, but research breakthroughs are just a start. Canadian policy-makers and companies have been far less adept at keeping this taxpayer-subsidized intellectual property and talent at home. Much-needed updates to Canada's outdated privacy law were stuck in Parliament for more than two years, and in the end, they never passed. As a result, Canadians' sensitive data remain poorly protected, with few ways to enforce privacy rights. Worse still, the government gave up its ability to control cross-border data flows when it signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Canada has also failed to recapture some of the spoils of the digital economy. The Online News Act's imposition of compensation requirements on companies linking to Canadian content online backfired. Rather than boosting the revenue of Canadian media outlets, the law undermined Canada's informational sovereignty when Meta decided to simply stop linking social media users in Canada to news outlets. More recently, the Carney government withdrew Canada's planned Digital Service Tax on digital service providers, after Mr. Trump threatened to terminate trade negotiations over its 'unfairness' to American companies. In its early days, the Carney government took a seemingly different tack. The Liberal election platform promised to use tax incentives to keep more intellectual property in Canada and promote homegrown innovation. The government is also supporting a Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy to build data centres and subsidize Canadian companies' access to high-performance computing. A new approach is welcome, but there are drawbacks. Ideas that focus on building data centres – like Kevin O'Leary's proposed Wonder Valley in Alberta – can have environmental impacts. Tech giants such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon have all reported major increases in emissions owing to the fact that these facilities use huge amounts of energy and water, generate heat and noise, and often affect nearby communities. These largely automated centres would also likely fail to create many new jobs. Tax breaks that keep patents in Canada and support local business growth could help strengthen our digital economy. But it's important to understand that Silicon Valley owes much of its success to operating in a loose regulatory environment. There are Canadian alternatives in the works, but they might not offer real value if global reach – something our platforms may not easily achieve – is what makes social media so popular in the first place. Many companies have been allowed to profit from largely unregulated collection and analysis of data about people. The side effects are serious and well-known. They include rising mental health problems in teens and growing political divisions. Both are made worse by algorithms that aim to keep people hooked instead of helping them understand the world. Digital sovereignty is only useful if it is accompanied by a sensible digital policy agenda designed to address the many harms associated with data-driven technologies. As we have written before, data is harvested individually but has collective impacts. As long as our government ignores the contradiction between building AI with personal data and protecting basic democratic rights – like consent, equality, autonomy, privacy and dignity – there will be a disconnect between the promise of an AI-powered economy and the real social and political problems digital technology can create. Efforts to achieve digital sovereignty represent an important shift in policy. Leaders are starting to realize how much control over Canadians' online lives – and the wealth created by digital technologies funded with public money – has been handed over to foreign governments and Big Tech. But while it's a worthy goal, it will only happen if Canada has a clear plan for building a digital economy that works for all Canadians. That means carefully weighing both the benefits and the costs of relying on data-driven technologies.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store