MOOSE JAW — Police Chief Rick Bourassa has declined to explain why he fired Supt. Taylor Mickleborough because the latter is in the process of appealing his dismissal to the province.
Mickleborough — the fifth-highest paid officer in 2023 at $170,473.38 — received his walking papers several weeks ago, although he was initially suspended two months ago for an incident on which the police service refused to elaborate.
During a media scrum after the Oct. 9 Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting, Bourassa confirmed that he fired Mickleborough from the Moose Jaw Police Service, using Section 60 of The Police Act as his guide. He pointed out that that section gives criteria to chiefs on how and when they can dismiss members.
“I will not go into details,” he said.
Instead, he said Section 61 of the act gives dismissed members the ability to appeal to the Saskatchewan Police Commission, which would then hold a public hearing on the matter.
The chief said Mickleborough has submitted his appeal to the commission, which means the provincial agency and the Ministry of Policing and Corrections will appoint a hearing officer to convene the hearings.
“And we don’t know what the timelines are on that,” said Bourassa. “It probably won’t be too long. As of (Oct. 9), I don’t know if there’s been a hearing officer appointed yet. The appeal … we were just advised of it (Oct. 8).”
Bourassa said he wanted to respect those legal processes, while saying anything else or litigating or trying those matters outside of those hearings “would be wildly inappropriate.”
The chief understood that residents were impatient and wanted to know what happened, but he encouraged them to wait for the proper processes to occur.
Meanwhile, Bourassa confirmed that Supt. Richard (Rick) McKenna — also the fifth-highest-paid officer last year at $170,473.38 — had been on “relief from duty” for more than a year because of an internal investigation against him. He said that police chiefs usually put members on relief from duty when investigations focus on them.
“It’s best for everybody that they’re not in the building,” he said, noting this wasn’t a suspension because that is an entirely different disciplinary action. “It’s just best for everyone in some of these circumstances that people just aren’t under the stresses of being at work while it’s happening.”
A second officer who is also on relief from duty is Blair Torgunrud.
Bourassa said he is waiting for the results from those investigations into McKenna and Torgunrud before he said anything else about their situations. Meanwhile, the two officers would remain on relief from duty until that time.
“Sometimes those things (investigations) are quick. It’s already been a while … ,” he added. “I’m hoping it’s soon, but (it’s) out of my control.”
