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The former chief of a beleaguered Saskatchewan police service that was subject to an independent inquiry was paid nearly $430,000 after he retired, public documents show.

The documents say Jonathan Bergen received $429,241 in 2023, roughly double the $200,626 he earned in 2022 and his $219,044 salary in 2021, while chief of police in Prince Albert. The province’s third-largest city, with about 38,000 people, is north of Saskatoon.

Janet Carriere, chair of the Prince Albert Board of Police Commissioners, told The Canadian Press that Bergen’s payout was part of his contract.

She didn’t provide specifics of the arrangement but said the provision is standard practice.

“I would of course not always want to pay out like that, and it makes it a little tough for our budget as a police commission, but it was what it was,” she said.

“We’ve hired a new police chief. We’ve stopped living in the past. We have to move on, and we have to create a better service.”

Bergen retired from the force in May 2023 on the same day a Public Complaints Commission report found two officers neglected their duty in the hours before the death of a toddler.

The report found the officers, responding to a domestic violence call in 2022, didn’t check on the well-being of 13-month-old Tanner Brass and left him “vulnerable and in danger” with his father.

The father, Kaij Brass, was sentenced in February to 16 years for manslaughter.

Bergen had suspended the officers with pay and requested an investigation into the matter a year before the report came out.He said last year the move resulted in relentless criticism, along with personal attacks and harassment towards his family.

His decision to retire from the force after 25 years was done in the best interests of the community, he said. If he were to discipline members or investigate further, he added, it could be misrepresented as being biased against the officers in the case.

Chief Patrick Nogier, who was named the permanent head of the force after Bergen’s departure, said this week the suspended officers returned to work on remedial measures in November.

Since then, he said, one has quit and the other has been removed from active duty, as she is dealing with internal matters.

Nogier said Bergen’s payout had no large effect on the policing budget. He added the force wants to turn the page.

Nolan Carter, president of the city’s police union, has accused Bergen of causing deep wounds in the organization. He said in a statement he can’t comment on the payout.

Carter added it was “very odd” the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority hired Bergen after his retirement.

The authority, which regulates alcohol, cannabis and most gambling in the province, lists Bergen on its website as a manager with gaming integrity and licensing.

The authority said in an email it doesn’t provide details on staff, but those who work as inspectors and investigators often have law enforcement backgrounds.

Bergen did not respond to requests for comment.

The city and the office of Mayor Greg Dionne also did not respond to requests for comment.

Carriere said she was sad to see Bergen go.

“He was a good, decent human being, and unfortunately things just turned out the way they did,” she said.

“The association wasn’t happy with him, and there was just no way to make it good for everyone.”

Carriere said the death of the toddler still weighs on the commission.

“The relationship with the association is better, and we have a lot of work to do still.”

Following the killing, along with three in-custody deaths inPrince Albert in 2021, the province struck an independent inquiry into the police force.

The province released recommendations from that inquiry in July 2023 but not the entire report.

Carter said members deserve to see the report in its entirety. Indigenous leaders also want it publicly released.

“Our membership is asking for closure, as this was a very troubling time for members and the service,” Carter said.

A spokesperson for the Saskatchewan Policing Ministry said in an email the full report won’t be released because it contains personal, sensitive and confidential information.

Among the 45 recommendations, the report says thepolice service should complete a comprehensive policy review and develop a code of conduct for disciplining officers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.

WINNIPEG – A Manitoba judge is expected to deliver his verdict today in the case of a senior corrections officer charged in the death of an inmate.

Robert Jeffrey Morden has pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life for 45-year-old William Ahmo of Sagkeeng Anicinabe Nation

Ahmo was involved in a 2021 standoff with guards at the Headingley Correctional Centre and died a week later in hospital.

Morden was the officer in charge of the emergency response unit that subdued Ahmo at the provincial jail west of Winnipeg.

Video evidence presented at the trial shows tactical officers taking the inmate to the ground, putting him in shackles, placing a spit hood over his head and sitting him in a restraint chair before he becomes unresponsive.

Court heard he died from a brain injury stemming from cardiac arrest.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.

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TORONTO – Ontario child-care centres that aren’t participating in the national $10-a-day program will soon lose provincial funding to offer fee subsidies to lower-income families and their staff could see a pay cut of $2 an hour.

In a memo sent to licensed operators in Ontario outlining changes to how the province is funding the $10-a-day program, an assistant deputy minister of education wrote that starting in 2025, non-participating centres will no longer receive routine funding such as “general operating, fee subsidy or wage enhancement grants.”

Families who already get fee subsidies for child care will continue to benefit until their child ages out or leaves their provider, the memo said, but any new families won’t be able to access subsidies for kids aged five and under in centres outside the $10-a-day system.

That money will instead go into funding the $10-a-day program “to ensure the success of that system,” according to the memo.

The Ministry of Education last month announced a long-awaited new formula for funding the centres in the $10-a-day program, after many operators said they were struggling to keep their doors open with the province simply replacing the revenue from discounted parent fees.

The new approach is intended to cover operators’ actual costs and give them some flexibility, which many said will stabilize the sector for now, though it still may not be ideal for long-term growth.

The accompanying changes that will see funding cut off from non-participating centres will make it harder for them to operate, and therefore harder for families to access care outside the $10-a-day system, said Andrea Hannen, executive director of the Association of Day Care Operators of Ontario.

“When these centres lose access to provincial funding, including the opportunity for their staff to receive provincial wage enhancements and the families they serve to receive provincial fee subsidies, they will have to either close their doors, or dramatically raise their fees,” she said.

“This means fewer licensed child care choices for families of modest means.”

Operators in the $10-a-day program offer reduced parent fees, but those outside the program have the flexibility to set their fees based on operational costs, said a spokesperson for Education Minister Jill Dunlop.

Ontario’s deal with the federal government to join the $10-a-day program committed the province to create 86,000 new child-care spaces. But, so far, while there have been about 51,000 new spaces, only 25,500 of those are within the $10-a-day system, officials say.

The province says a federal cap on the percentage of for-profit spaces within the system is hampering growth, as municipalities are having to turn down applications for thousands of potential spaces because they are created by for-profit operators.

“We continue to call on the federal government to lift their cap on for-profit providers, which is limiting the opportunity for operators to join the $10-a-day program and access funding, and is limiting the availability of affordable child-care spaces close to home,” Dunlop’s spokesperson Edyta McKay wrote in a statement.

Federal Minister Jenna Sudds told Ontario that she was open to a conversation about lifting the cap, but she first needed more information on how the province is trying to spur non-profit space creation, as the $10-a-day system is supposed to be predominantly public and not-for-profit.

Alana Powell, the executive director of the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario, said that while a public system is a laudable goal, the loss of the $2-an-hour wage enhancement from the province will be huge for staff in programs outside the $10-a-day system.

“While we support prioritizing movements into the Canada-wide system and the development of the publicly funded system, it is going to be devastating for any educators to experience any wage loss, in particular at a time like right now,” she said.

The wage enhancement, which applies to registered early childhood educators and other child-care workers in licensed child care, has been in place since 2016.

After Ontario signed on to the $10-a-day program it set a wage floor for ECEs, and later boosted that minimum pay to $23.86 an hour this year after criticism it was too low to make a dent in a recruitment and retention crisis. Advocates say that level is still too low to attract and keep enough workers to staff the 86,000 promised new spaces.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.