Doug Ford’s son-in-law faces Police Act charges linked to London

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By: Dale Carruthers

Several of the professional misconduct charges against Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s son-in-law are related to his alleged correspondence with London police officers.

Toronto police Staff Sgt. Ernest (Dave) Haynes, the husband of Krista Ford Haynes, is facing 15 professional misconduct charges – including discreditable conduct, breach of confidence and insubordination – in five separate cases under the Police Services Act.

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Three of the charges against Haynes, a 22-year service member who publicly criticized COVID-19 vaccination mandates, are related to a Toronto missing person case with links to London.

Toronto police located a person identified as C.I., who previously was reported missing, on Dec. 30, 2023, and determined they were wanted on a bench warrant in London, according to a notice of hearing recently made public.

Toronto police transported the person to London after London police declined to come pick them up or meet Toronto officers halfway, the documents say.

“You subsequently learned of comments made by a London Police Service officer to the transporting officers,” the documents say of Haynes.

Haynes sent an email four days later to two London officers, identified as Staff Sgt. P.D. and Sgt. S.O, expressing his view on the situation, the documents say.

“You included other emails and a press release in the email chain,” the documents say. “On that same day, you forwarded the same email to your spouse K.F., who was not authorized to receive it.”

Haynes is on leave from the force, a Toronto police spokesperson said Monday.

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The bulk of the other charges against Haynes are related to allegations he shared confidential police information and criticized police leadership in an internal email and on social media.

In one case, Haynes is accused of sending an email to two senior officers on Dec. 28, 2023, regarding a sexual assault. The complainant was copied on the email that contained confidential information including an incident history and previous email correspondence, the notice of hearing says.

Haynes allegedly forwarded the email to his wife and a law student, both of whom weren’t authorized to receive it, the documents say.

Haynes posted on Instagram Sunday that he doesn’t believe he’ll be “given fair process” at his hearing because of his relationship to Ford.

“Upon reaching out to my association for help and after expressing my very valid, bonafide concerns that I required an outside the city, province source of representation based on the aforementioned, I was denied,” he wrote. 

Ford Haynes, a one-time player in a professional lingerie football league, launched an online fundraiser in January that has collected nearly $19,000 to pay for her husband’s legal fees.

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The veteran officer is represented by Bath-Sheba van den Berg, who represented members of the Freedom Convoy at last year’s Public Order Emergency Commission inquiry into the federal government’s use of emergency measures during the pandemic.

Ford Haynes, who declined an interview request, citing advice from counsel, wrote on the fundraiser

it was important to get a lawyer who was independent of the Toronto Police Association, the union that traditionally provides lawyers for officers charged in criminal and professional misconduct cases.

Haynes’s next hearing date is April.

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