Eight calls, no cops: Professor seeks answers after violent University of Winnipeg clash

Lawyers are seeking Winnipeg Police Service records after officers allegedly failed to attend a violent altercation at the University of Winnipeg despite at least eight calls to police.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) announced Tuesday that lawyers it is funding are seeking the records on behalf of a professor challenging a decision by Manitoba’s Law Enforcement Review Agency (LERA) not to investigate his complaint about the police response.

The professor, identified by the pseudonym David Martin, attended a Spectrum Street Epistemology exercise at the university on Sept. 26, 2025. The event invited participants to discuss controversial subjects, including whether “residential school denialism” is a barrier to reconciliation.

Political scientist and former Mount Royal University professor Frances Widdowson, who has written extensively about Indigenous policy and residential schools, participated in the exercise. A group opposed to the event and Widdowson’s participation was also present, and a violent altercation followed.

According to Martin’s complaint, at least eight calls were made to Winnipeg police between approximately 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Witnesses allegedly were told a police car would be sent “soon,” but no officers appeared before Martin left around 5 p.m.

Martin alleges police knew about the event and had been dispatched but failed to attend, which he argues amounted to differential treatment based on political belief or activity and therefore an abuse of authority.

LERA Commissioner Andrew Minor determined the allegations concerned quality of service and fell outside the scope of The Law Enforcement Review Act. No investigation was conducted.

Martin is now seeking judicial review of that decision and disclosure of police records that could show how officers responded to the calls and why nobody attended the scene. Requests for the records were previously refused in October 2025 and again in June 2026.

“Procedural fairness exists to ensure that the results of an investigation or quasi-judicial decision can be fairly relied upon with confidence; without it, the truth-seeking function of the complaint process is compromised,” constitutional lawyer Michelle Nguyen said.

The review of LERA’s decision is expected to proceed once the disclosure dispute is resolved.