Pat Mandy takes helm as chair of Hamilton Police Services Board

The Hamilton Police Services Board has a new chair.

Pat Mandy, a member of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, was unanimously elected to the post during the board’s meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Mandy first joined the board, as the province’s representative, in March of 2018.

She was nominated to the position of chair by Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger during his final meeting as a member of the police services board.

Eisenberger has resigned from the board, as a city council representative, to make way for Flamborough Coun. Judi Partridge.

Mandy says she’s now in a position to “teach and share with others, because I think working towards our future, working together is knowledge, knowledge of each other and relationship building.”

“My Indigenous name,” adds Mandy, “means ‘people brings together woman'” in Anishinaabe.

Mandy also says she’ll face a lot of challenges amidst the international conversation around the defunding of police services.

“I believe that we need to change the conversation from defunding,” says Mandy, “and start to refocus our efforts and resources in a more effective way.”

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“We need to look at how we can change the system,” adds Mandy, “so that we don’t always need the services of the police to react, but rather to be starting upstream, and to put in some of the supports, we’ve heard housing, mental health.”

Mandy is a retired health-care administrator, with an impressive resume of leadership positions.

She was the first Indigenous president of the College of Nurses of Ontario, the first CEO of the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network and served as vice-president of patient services at Hamilton Health Sciences.

Mandy was appointed as a member of the Order of Canada in June 2017.