Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders has issued a statement after he was criticized for comments he made regarding the probe into alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur.
"On Monday, I attended an Editorial Board of the Globe and Mail where I was asked questions, by numerous reporters, for an hour. Time was divided between talking about our modernization plan and the ongoing investigation into Bruce McArthur.
I want everyone, particularly the community, to understand the intent of this discussion so I would like to share the following:
As a police service, we put resources into Project Houston – a dozen full time investigators did thousands of hours of work canvassing the community, posting flyers, issuing news releases, interviewing witnesses, and still those activities did not yield any results.
I talked at length about the challenges we face and our desire to work with the community to move forward and be better. I am releasing the interview in its entirety so you can hear for yourself."
Chief Saunders released the full audio of the interview with the Globe and Mail Tuesday: here
In the interview published Tuesday, Saunders told the Globe and Mail that while police "knew something was up" with the disappearance of men from the city’s gay village, they "did not have the evidence" to solve the case then.
Saunders is quoted in the paper as saying, "I've heard a lot of sources say certain things, and had those sources said those things when we had Project Houston, I think there is a very strong potential that the outcome could have been different."
The comments prompted backlash from the LGBTQ community, who say police failed to listen to them when they brought forward concerns about missing members of the community over the years.
With files from CTV News and CP24