she also served as the chair of the ottawa-carleton police services board, which oversaw the merger of the ottawa, nepean, and gloucester police forces into a unified organization. however, in december 1995, she and the three other provincially appointed members of the board were fired in mid-term by the new provincial government of mike harris who disagreed with their political views. the three ottawa city council appointees were not dismissed. dewar and a fellow board member, judy hunter, sued the government for unfair dismissal. in a precedent-setting case the court ruled in their favour, and they won again on appeal.