The head of the city’s police oversight agency plans to move to Portugal full-time but will continue governing Edmonton police from overseas.
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Commission chairman John McDougall confirmed he’s planning to move to Portugal full-time on Friday in an interview after this newspaper reached out to the commission for comment on Thursday. His term as chair ends this month and McDougall said he won’t be seeking the leadership spot again. But McDougall plans to stay on as a commissioner until he feels it’s time to go, or when his term ends in December 2026.
“I suspect that I will probably remain here. If there is a need to go back, I will,” he said in a Zoom interview from Portugal. “This is not unusual, to conduct business by Zoom. It started with COVID, and the majority of organizations now have a hybrid program … I don’t think the geographical difference is big.”
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McDougall has been a commissioner for seven years and has lived in Edmonton for 12 years. He’s one of the Edmonton commissioners appointed by the provincial government rather than by Edmonton city council. He thinks his local relationships and knowledge of Edmonton means this situation is different than doing a remote role for a city he hasn’t lived in before.
“I have a long history, not only with Edmonton but with the commission and with the communities that I’m part of, and that does not end just because I get on an airplane,” he said. “I’m not doing this to make money. I’m not in this for anything other than the fact that I believe in the work.”
The City of Edmonton had residency requirements for police commissioners until 2021. Later postings removed this. City policy says residency in Edmonton “is a consideration rather than mandatory” for its agencies, boards and commissions.
Asked how he can govern Edmonton’s police from outside the country, McDougall said he gets the same information the other commissioners do via email. He said he can keep up with local issues online.
“I still have connections in the city. I still have part of my community in the city. … The fact that my feet are not geographically placed there, I don’t think in the short term, presents any problems,” he said.
“The internet: it works in Portugal. Secondly, we (commissioners) are a very communicative group … we are not isolated islands, we are an island together that work together, share information together, to ensure that we all have the right information to make decisions.”
McDougall said he did not notify the commission nor city council he was moving because it’s his personal business: “I’m entitled to a private life.”
According to McDougall, he’s not the only police commissioner who doesn’t live in Edmonton. He declined to provide a name.
In a statement released later Friday afternoon, McDougall said he doesn’t plan to collect honorariums for the volunteer role.
‘Extraordinarily unusual’ and ‘mind-boggling’
Criminologist Temitope Oriola’s first reaction to the news Friday was: “This is extraordinarily unusual.”
While there are more hybrid working roles since the pandemic, Oriola, a University of Alberta professor, said being a police commissioner is different.
“My humble opinion is that the more respectable thing to do would have been to simply step aside in the interest of the commission, but also the seriousness of the work that the commission does,” he said. “You may think you can keep tabs on everything that’s happening where you normally reside, but it’s not true. You do miss out on some of the finer details. There are news items that may escape you.”
Oriola said he can’t see how a commissioner can be effective if they’re away for long periods of time.
“It’s mind-boggling, in my opinion,” he said, adding it’s an important role someone local can step up to fill in.
Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz agrees the people who govern Edmonton’s police should live in Edmonton.
“I want a police commission that is filled with Edmontonians. This is the Edmonton police commission, it is not the provincial Alberta police commission, it is not the Portuguese police commission,” he said. “We are a city of 1.1 million people. It’s a missed opportunity to have a local representative who’s invested in the crime, safety, and well-being of our community. There should be a residency requirement.”
“We’re a province of four million people. Surely we can find someone to step in. I commend John for his service to our country and wish him well in his retirement and his next chapter.”
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis was asked about McDougall’s residency at an unrelated news conference earlier in the day.
“I was not aware that he would be performing his duties while overseas, so it’s the first I’m hearing of this,” Ellis said. “I’m happy to get some corrections if that is not the case, but my understanding is that he will be in Edmonton while performing his duties and that only when he is done and retired will he be moving to Portugal where his partner lives.”
In a written statement after the news conference, Ellis said with seven years’ experience on the commission, McDougall’s knowledge and experience “is vital during this time of change at EPS and at the commission” and “I look forward to John’s continued leadership on the commission at this time.”