Ottawa Officer on Sunshine List Despite Being Suspended Since 2023
Ottawa is home to a peculiar entry on Ontario's 2025 Sunshine List: a police officer who hasn't worked a shift in over two years but is still drawing a salary that qualifies him for the province's annual public sector pay disclosure.
Const. Goran Beric of the Ottawa Police Service has been suspended with pay since 2023 — the year he was convicted of assault. Despite that conviction, Beric continues to collect his salary, which is publicly disclosed as part of Ontario's Sunshine List, the annual registry of public sector employees earning $100,000 or more.
What Is the Sunshine List?
Ontario's Sunshine List has been published every year since 1996. It was originally designed to bring transparency to how taxpayer dollars are spent on public sector salaries. The list includes employees from municipalities, hospitals, school boards, police services, and provincial agencies.
For most Ottawans, appearing on the list signals career achievement. For Beric, it's become a symbol of a system that keeps paying officers even after serious misconduct has been established in court.
Suspended With Pay — How Long Can It Last?
Under Ontario's Police Services Act and its successor legislation, officers charged with or convicted of offences can be suspended with pay pending the outcome of internal disciplinary proceedings. These processes can stretch on for years, and there is no hard cap on how long a suspension with pay can continue.
Critics have long argued this creates a perverse outcome: officers removed from duty for serious misconduct continue to draw full public salaries while internal processes slowly grind forward. In Beric's case, that process has now stretched past two full years.
The Ottawa Police Service has not publicly commented on the timeline for Beric's disciplinary hearing or what outcome is expected.
A Broader Conversation About Police Accountability
Beric's case isn't unique in Ontario, but it lands with particular weight in Ottawa, a city that has grappled with police accountability issues in recent years. The Ottawa Police Services Board has faced ongoing scrutiny over how it handles officer misconduct, use-of-force incidents, and disciplinary timelines.
For taxpayers in Ottawa, the case raises straightforward questions: How long should a convicted officer continue receiving full pay? And what reforms, if any, are on the table to shorten that timeline?
Ontario has made some legislative changes to police oversight in recent years, but critics say the suspension-with-pay provisions remain a loophole that costs the public money while accountability is delayed.
What Happens Next?
Until Beric's internal disciplinary process concludes, he will likely continue to appear in future public salary disclosures. Whether that results in termination, demotion, or another outcome depends on hearings that have yet to be completed.
For now, his name sits on a list meant to celebrate public service milestones — a reminder that Ontario's transparency mechanisms sometimes illuminate uncomfortable truths as much as they celebrate achievement.
Source: Ottawa Citizen — Ottawa public servants on the 2025 Sunshine List
