City councillor abruptly quits Police Services Board

Lisa Vezeau-Allen surprised her fellow members of the Police Services Board today, announcing her resignation during their afternoon meeting.

The councillor for Ward 2 has been a member of the municipal policing oversight board since 2019. She told board members during the meeting that she had initially planned to remain on the board for the duration of her two-year term, which began this past January. 

“I’ve loved my time here," she said. "I have lots of other obligations that I need to pay lots of attention to as well, and I look forward to seeing what the board does in the future." 

Vezeau-Allen then proceeded to physically hand in her resignation letter to Police Services Board Chair John Bruno.

“This is totally unexpected, and certainly I did not have any knowledge of this beforehand,” Bruno said to Vezeau-Allen, after accepting her resignation letter. “I want to thank you for all of your service over the many years that you have participated as a police board member, and certainly we would wish you all the best.”

“Lisa and I haven’t always agreed on everything, but I know one thing: she’s a very gritty and determined young lady, and follows a very intense workload,” added police board member Ian MacKenzie.

Sault Ste. Marie Police Service Chief Hugh Stevenson also thanked Vezeau-Allen.

“I can honestly say that your questions were always to the point, and they were for a constructive purpose to allow us to look sometimes deeper into our data, or deeper into how we kept the community safe — and I do thank you for that,” he said.  

Vezeau-Allen served as chair of the Police Services Board in 2022 prior to Bruno’s appointment.