Julian Fantino

According to an internal police report leaked in 2007, Fantino, as superintendent of detectives in 1991, had ordered a wiretap of lawyer Peter Maloney a police critic and friend of Susan Eng, chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, the body overseeing the Toronto Police service. Conversations between Maloney and Eng were illegally recorded despite a court order that only the first minute of Maloney's conversations were to be monitored so as to determine whether the individual who he was talking to was on the list of those being investigated.[12][13]

After 23 years of service with the Metro Toronto Police, Fantino left to accept an appointment as police chief of London, Ontario, in 1991.

An incident in September 2000 involving five male police officers entering a woman's bath house sparked public outrage and drew attention to TPS's poor standing in the gay community.[17] In 2004, Fantino made an attempt to repair relations, primarily by appearing on the cover of fab in a photo which featured him posing in his police uniform with five other models dressed as the Village People standing behind him.[18]

Fantino appeared to have little patience for protesters: he wanted them to ask police for permission before holding demonstrations. In one report, he commented "a problem is now arising where portions of the public believe that Dundas Square is a public space."[19] In his new position with the OPP, Fantino took an aggressive posture with a native protest blocking a major highway: he stated he "would not/could not tolerate the 401 being closed all day." However, the commander on site decided against a raid as "[he was] not about to put people at risk for a piece of pavement."[20]

In 2003, Fantino criticized the effectiveness of the Canadian gun registry.[21]

Also in 2003, Fantino publicly named and identified several people as being under investigation for child pornography. Despite the lack of evidence, and the crown subsequently dropping the charges, at least one of the men publicly identified committed suicide, naming Fantino's intentional destruction of his reputation as the reason for his suicide in the suicide note. [22][23][24]

Fantino came under increasing scrutiny due to three corruption scandals which broke out during his tenure and his handling of those incidents. Fantino was accused of having tried to deal with these cases out of public view and attempting to shield them from investigation by outside police services.

In one case, drug squad officers are alleged to have beaten and robbed suspected drug dealers. In another, plainclothes officers were charged with accepting bribes to help bars dodge liquor inspections. In the third, a group of officers who advocated on behalf of a drug-addicted car thief faced internal charges.

Two of these cases involve the sons of former police chief William McCormack, and came to light not as a result of investigations by Toronto police, but due to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigation into gangster activity which inadvertently uncovered evidence of wrongdoing by Toronto police officers. Mike McCormack was later cleared of all wrongdoing due to a lack of evidence.

In December 2009, Fantino was accused during a related court case of having "unplugged" a special task force investigating corruption charges against the Toronto Police Service's narcotics squad, thereby ignoring the task force's suspicions that another of the force's drug squads was corrupt. Lawyer Julian Falconer argued in court that "When Chief Fantino declared there were only a few bad apples, he did not deliver the straight goods," and shut down the investigation before it expanded as part of a damage-control campaign.[25]

In March 2005, the CBC announced that they had obtained documents via the Access to Information Act showing that between 1998 and 2005 Toronto had spent $30,633,303.63 settling lawsuits against police. Norm Gardner said the settlement costs, which amount to about $5 million a year over six years, were expected, given the number of confrontations police face, suggesting that "people think they are going to get paid off."

Fantino was criticized by lawyer Peter Rosenthal during the trial of aboriginal activist Shawn Brant. Fantino was criticized for ordering wiretaps of Brant's phone without proper authority and for making provocative comments to Brant during negotiations to end a blockade of the rail line west of Kingston. By way of those illegal wiretaps, Fantino was recorded saying to Brant "You are going to force me to do everything I can; within your community and everywhere else; to destroy your reputation" and "your whole world is going to come crashing down" [30] NDP MPP Peter Kormos called for Fantino's resignation accusing him of using "pugnacious and bellicose" rhetoric and for engaging in "Rambo-style policing."[31] In the face of defence motions for the police to disclose more evidence about their conduct the Crown agreed to drop the most serious charges against Brant in exchange for a plea bargain resulting in a light sentence.[32] Fantino was also criticized for his role in the Caledonia land dispute after he was accused of sending e-mails to local politicians accusing them of encouraging anti-police rallies by non-Natives.[33]

In late 2008 and early 2009, Fantino was embroiled in a controversy surrounding his role in an internal discipline case at the OPP, in which Fantino was accused of being petty and vindictive in his actions against the officers.[34] Fantino ordered a hearing into the matter but attempted to remove the adjudicator he had appointed on the grounds that the judge was biased against the commissioner due to critical comments he made during testimony by Fantino. Divisional Court rejected Fantino's request.[35] The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the lower court decision saying an informed person viewing the matter realistically and practically would not conclude there was any apprehension of bias on the part of the adjudicator. The OPP dropped the disciplinary case against the two officers on December 15, 2009, the same day Fantino was due to be cross examined[36] by defence lawyer Julian Falconer.[37] The entire process cost more than $500,000 in public money.[38]

Fantino was summoned in early January 2010 to face a charge of influencing or attempting to influence an elected official in April 2007 in Haldimand County, Ontario. The summons came after a December 31 Ontario Superior Court order demanding a formal charge be laid in relation to allegations against Mr. Fantino brought forward by a private complainant, Gary McHale, who alleged that Fantino was illegally influencing or attempting to influence municipal officials in regards to the Caledonia land dispute.[39] The charge against Fantino was stayed in February 2010 as the Crown said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.[40]

On February 4, 2011, Gerald Guy Brummell of Trenton, Ontario filed a $90,000,000 lawsuit against 36 OPP officers, including Julian Fantino, in the Superior Court of Justice in Cobourg Ontario (File 11/11) alleging a conspiracy and coverup relating to the inappropriate use of the judicial system as a tool of revenge against Brummell and his family for complaining about a death threat by one of their officers.[41] In early 2014 Superior Court Justice H.K. O’Connell sided with the government that the claim of malicious prosecution was not supported by evidence.[42] Brummell has appealed this decision to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. On his web site, Brummell alleged that Fantino was an accessory to the murders of Jessica Lloyd and Marie France Comeau, and claimed OPP were knowledgeable of the earlier crimes of Colonel Russell Williams prior to his murders.[43] The Crown settled the lawsuits brought against them by Williams victims, Larry and Bonnie Jones[44] and Massicotte.[45]

In September 2017, Julian Fantino announced that he was working with Aleafia, a Concord Ontario-based company that is involved in the use of medical marijuana, one of the many start-ups capitalizing on Canada's then-upcoming legalization of cannabis. On October 31, 2017, Fantino was announced as Executive Chairman of Aleafia. In several news interviews, he explained how his attitude to the drug changed during his time as Veterans Affairs Minister when he saw the benefits of pot in assisting soldiers to deal with anxiety, sleep disorders and PTSD.[65][66] Fantino, who had been the board's chair, resigned from the board effective May 15, 2020. He had been criticized for his involvement due to his longtime opposition to cannabis and having once compared legalizing the substance to legalizing murder.[67] Fantino was also involved in a retail recreational cannabis store which opened in Toronto's Kensington Market in 2020.[68][69]

On September 28, 2017, Julian Fantino swore an affidavit in support of his application to intervene in the judicial review of a decision by the Canadian Judicial Council in respect of a complaint by former Toronto Police officer Donald Best against Ontario Superior Court Justice J. Bryan Shaughnessy.[70] Fantino's "extensive" 33 page plus 100 exhibits affidavit stated that Best was convicted "upon the presentation by lawyers of provably false evidence." and that that "disturbing" evidence suggests police resources and personnel were "improperly retained, used and co-opted" to help one side in the private civil dispute at the time that Fantino was Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police (but without his knowledge). Fantino further posited in the affidavit that there was a conspiracy involving secret backroom dealings by a judge and the police.[71][72][73]

Mr. Fantino's application to intervene in the Donald Best matter was heard on October 11, 2017, before a Federal Court of Canada prothonotary. The court refused Fantino's application, but he subsequently filed an appeal of this decision which was to be heard on November 20, 2017[74] but was not heard by the court at that time. As of January 22, 2018, the legal case continues.[71][75]