To Serve and Reflect

Anyone who takes a principled stand on a matter of public debate is bound to make enemies, and it would be an understatement to say John Sewell made some among the police during his time on Toronto City Council, which culminated with a short stint as mayor from 1978 to 1980. The police union hurled homophobic slurs at him for defending gay rights, labelled him a “cop hater” for criticizing law enforcement killings, and published a cartoon of a uniformed officer discarding his body in a garbage can when he lost his re-election bid. In other words, Sewell was a politician ahead of his time.

After being voted out of the mayor’s office, Sewell taught a class on policing at York University and published his first book on the topic, Police: Urban Policing in Canada, in 1985. He also helped found the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, which he has coordinated for two decades. Indeed, his latest book, Crisis in Canada’s Policing, with research support...