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A group of advocates calling for an independent inquiry into issues around data privacy at the Regina Police Service left Tuesday’s board of police commissioners meeting disappointed.
Trish Elliott and Florence Stratton spoke at the meeting after launching a petition calling for a number of changes, including the appointment of an independent third party to lead a review.
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“This would have never been on the agenda this morning if it weren’t for multiple emails from members of the community asking for it to be on the agenda and, myself included, we never heard back from any of the commissioners,” Elliott told reporters.
Mayor Chad Bachynski, who chairs the board, says it was “important and meaningful” to have the discussion, even though the board did not commit to a public inquiry.
“Some of this, we’ll have to take back and understand,” Bachynski said.
“One of the questions was around directing some of the charges, for example, and some of these things aren’t in our purview. So absolutely, as a board, we’ll take that back and we’ll review and ensure that we find the right balance between what is applicable logistically, in terms of delivering service, but also ensuring that there’s accountability and oversight for the service.”
Elliott said the board should take a more active role instead of deferring to the police chief.
“The buck doesn’t stop with the chief of police,” she said.
“We can’t always have the Regina police investigating the Regina police. The buck stops with our civilian oversight board. That board has sole responsibility for providing police services here in the city, and they also have the authority to make rules and regulations as they deem fit, and they have the authority to launch a public inquiry where they can compel people to come forward, they can go through records, they can summon witnesses.”
Elliott said it’s particularly important that the police force get to the bottom of the leak of a complainant’s identity in an incident involving inappropriate messages that ultimately led to the firing of former police chief Farooq Sheikh in October.
Duquette case leads to changes
The advocates also called the implementation of the nine recommendations made by the information and privacy commissioner in the wake of privacy charges against Regina police officer Clinton Duquette.
Duquette is accused of accessing police databases to obtain information about an intimate partner and other people associated with that person. He was suspended for one day without pay, and ordered to take training and be subject to random audits of his database searches.
Regina police chief Lorilee Davies speaks to reporters following Regina’s board of police commissioners meeting on May 26, 2026. (Geoff Smith/980 CJME)
Of the nine recommendations, police chief Lorilee Davies told the board seven have been implemented.
One of the two recommendations which was not implemented, requiring officers to enter the justification for each database search, requires an update to the system used by the Regina police. Davies said the other recommendation, a permanent ban on system access for Duquette, cannot be implemented because it would be tantamount to firing the officer.
Davies said the case was referred to Crown prosecutors, which she promised will be done in all such cases going forward. In this instance, the Crown laid a charge under the Local Authority Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act rather than proceeding with criminal charges. Duquette is scheduled to appear in court on June 15.
Elliott read a statement by an alleged victim of Duquette, saying the penalties the officer is facing fall well short of what the public should be able to expect.
“This issue is not over. Although this officer has been charged under LA FOIP, this is not justice,” she said in the statement.
Davies said the police cannot dictate what charges should be in cases of privacy breaches like Duquette’s.
“The Crown will make that determination, and then if there aren’t charges, Criminal Code or LA FOIP, then it will come back here for discipline under the Police Act,” she said. “And so I think that those steps are all leading us in the right direction.”
She added it’s not possible, under the Police Act, to issue new internal discipline to Duquette based on the outcome of the court case.
Kerry Benjoe, one of Robert Semenchuk’s 33 victims, speaking before Regina’s board of police commissioners meeting on May 26, 2026. (Geoff Smith/980 CJME)
Group says Semenchuk case shows law is inadequate
Journalist Kerry Benjoe came forward as one of 33 victims of Robert Semenchuk. While Semenchuk was a Regina police officer, he used police databases to repeatedly contact women and attempt to establish relationships with them. Semenchuk was ultimately sentenced to two years served in the community as well as probation as the result of a joint submission by the Crown and defence.
Speaking before Tuesday’s meeting, Benjoe said stronger sentences are needed in order to discourage other officers from behaving the same way in the future.
“They have to be held accountable. They have to be shown that this is not right, this is not accepted,” she said. “And perhaps they should be let go from the police service, the first privacy breach they make. They shouldn’t get a second chance.”
Benjoe said the breach of her privacy continues to affect her and her trust in the police force.
“I still don’t know, if something happens, if I could call the police, and I don’t know when my trust will be rebuilt,” she said. “Right now, I do respect the police officers that did the investigation, but it’s not just on the police officers. It’s also on the justice system. It’s on the Crown prosecutors to take these cases seriously, when it does make it to court. They need to have sentencing that is fitting for the crime.”
The letter’s authors are calling for the implementation of what they’ve dubbed “Kerry’s factor,” an aggravating factor at sentencing in cases like Semenchuk’s that “takes into account the power imbalance between the police and the women that they stalk.”
Meanwhile, Davies explained, the police database system has steps in place to ensure Regina officers uphold their oaths of confidentiality, and officers are trained to understand privacy legislation.
“This situation obviously is a black eye on the service. It’s not something that I want. It’s not something that any of our employees want,” the police chief said.
“Everyone that works here is committed to doing the best for the community, and when these instances happen, you know it makes us all look bad.”
