Good governance does not happen by accident. It develops through practice, reflection, and the confidence to ask thoughtful questions without stepping into operational direction. Our recent Governance Insights pieces have focused on data interpretation and learning sessions on critical thinking. Our most recent learning session dug deeper into how board members turn curiosity into structured oversight.
This naturally leads to the next step in the journey: learning to ask questions that build understanding, strengthen relationships, and support accountability across all board types.
How the concepts fit together
Critical thinking helps us:
- pause before reacting
- question assumptions
- separate opinion from fact
- look for context and patterns
- consider multiple explanations
- avoid bias or personal narrative
Data literacy helps us:
- understand what information means
- look for trends, risks, and outcomes
- trust the story behind the numbers
- know when we do not have enough information
- identify what should be monitored over time
Strategic questioning helps us:
- turn insight into oversight
- strengthen trust and transparency
- support leadership without interfering
- guide discussion toward community needs
- uncover what matters, not just what happened
Together, these skills help boards govern with intention and credibility. They move us past slogans like stay in your lane and into meaningful partnership, public trust, and performance insight.
The reality: discomfort on both sides
It is not only boards that hesitate when questions arise. Police leaders do too.
Boards sometimes fear asking the wrong thing.
Police leaders sometimes fear how the answer will be received.
Both may worry about exposing gaps or creating tension.
Legacy habits show up:
- guarding information
- avoiding vulnerability
- defaulting to that is operational
- mistaking curiosity for interference
But modern governance requires more than boundaries. It requires dialogue, context, and maturity. We build that not by avoiding tough questions, but by asking them in a way that respects roles and supports leadership development.
Practical approaches for different board types
Every board has a different mandate, but all boards share the responsibility to ask questions that improve understanding and support oversight.
Municipal Police Boards
Key focus: risk, outcomes, community trust, chief accountability
Good example:
We see an increase in youth-related incidents. Can you walk us through any prevention approaches or partnerships that are supporting this trend?
OPP Detachment Boards
Key focus: trends, context, community needs, DC performance insight
Good example:
Call data shows rising mental health-related calls. Can you speak to the factors behind this and any partners involved in supporting these calls?
First Nations Police Governance Bodies
Key focus: cultural context, community wellness, local autonomy, equitable safety
Good example:
Community feedback highlighted concerns about response wait times. Can you help us understand the drivers and any steps underway to address this?
Note: in First Nations contexts, questions often carry cultural and relational dimensions. Respect, community knowledge, and sovereignty must sit alongside oversight.
Real-world scenario framing
Below are examples boards are seeing today, along with strong question framing.
Issue: Increase in traffic collisions
Better question:
What factors are contributing to this trend, and are there education or prevention efforts we should be aware of?
Issue: Rise in repeat mental-health-related calls
Better question:
Are there themes in these calls and are community partners involved in coordinated response or follow-up?
Issue: Community feedback about police visibility
Better question:
We are hearing comments about visibility. Can you share current engagement approaches and whether seasonal patterns affect deployment?
Issue: Property-related incidents in a rural area
Better question:
We noticed an increase in property-related calls. Can you speak to any patterns behind this and steps being taken to support prevention?
Key takeaways for boards
- Do not fear questions. Use them as learning and leadership tools.
- Ask about trends, context, impact, and partnerships, not tactics or individual actions.
- Anchor questions in community needs and board responsibilities.
- Clarify intent: we are seeking understanding, not directing operations.
- Expect transparency and collaboration, not secrecy or defensiveness.
- Use curiosity, not challenge, as your starting point.
- If information cannot be shared, ask for what can be shared instead.
Key takeaways for police leaders
- Questions are not an attack; they are a tool of public accountability.
- Sharing context builds trust and shows leadership strength.
- Clarity is better than defensiveness.
- Explaining your reasoning strengthens public confidence.
- Boards need enough information to do their job, even if it is high-level.
The culture we are building
Healthy governance does not shut down questions.
It welcomes them and handles them with professionalism and maturity.
The future of police governance in Ontario depends on:
- curiosity instead of assumption
- transparency instead of protection
- partnership instead of positional power
- data-supported understanding instead of guesswork
When boards and police leaders share that standard, oversight becomes a strength, not a struggle, and public trust grows alongside it.