Susan Eng
Susan Eng was a Canadian lawyer based in Toronto and chair of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board from 1991 to 1995. She was also an activist in the Chinese community in Toronto.
Early life and education
Eng was born in 1952 in Toronto, the daughter of immigrants from China. She received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1975. She was called to Ontario Bar in 1977.Political career: 1984
In 1984 Eng was a candidate in the Ward 6 by-election to fill John Sewell's vacated seat on Toronto City Council. She attracted support from the Progressive Conservative Party's Larry Grossman and Susan Fish and from Liberal Jim Coutts. Running as an independent, she was defeated by New Democratic Party candidate Dale Martin by a margin of 6,546 votes to 5,716. In the 1985 municipal election she supported Peter Maloney's unsuccessful candidacy in the same ward.Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board
Eng was first appointed to the Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board in 1989 by the Liberal government of David Peterson. Her swearing in ceremony on 18 May 1989 caused controversy as she omitted swearing an oath to be loyal to Queen Elizabeth II, instead being loyal to 'Canadians.'Board chair
Eng's appointment to succeed June Rowlands as board chair was endorsed by the Toronto Star and Premier Bob Rae, as she supported Rae's police "reform" package, including mandatory reporting of each time an officer unholstered their gun. Eng's appointment was opposed by the Toronto Sun, many members of the police force, North York mayor Mel Lastman, and Scarborough mayor Joyce Trimmer. Trimmer tried to get the other Metro mayors to call upon premier Rae to extend then current chair Rowlands' term, instead of appointing Eng.Despite early threats from Metro Toronto Council chair Alan Tonks, that Eng's appointment would not be rubber stamped at the 16 May 1991 board meeting, she easily won the vote that day and served as board chair from 1991 to 1995. She had a tense relationship with Metro police chief William J. McCormack.
One controversy that blew-up during this time was the police association's opposition to Premier Rae's mandatory reporting of weapon unholstering legislation. That opposition culminated in a job action initiated by association president Art Lymer on 5 October 1992. The job action morphed into the "Blue Ribbon Campaign" by December of that year. McCormack tried unsuccessfully to convince Lymer to drop the campaign and when he was unsuccessful, Eng wanted McCormack fired. The rank-and-file strongly supported McCormack in this dispute, and a group of officers who had set up a vigil for one of their own killed on duty booed Eng when she showed up.