Racial Profiling and The Police
Let's talk about racial profiling...
Racial profiling is any action carried out by an authority (usually the police) for the alleged purpose of public safety or security that:
Is rooted in white supremacy and based on racism and stereotypes rather than facts or reasonable suspicion
Results in differential treatment, oppression and violence of racialized communities
Racial profiling is not only discriminatory, but it is also wholly unconstitutional & a human rights issue we SHOULD be doing way more about.
Not to mention it isn't an effective tool because it doesn't work.
But it's not a thing in Canada, right?
Between 1994 and 2019, the number of police stops and checks of Black folks rose from 17% to 26%.
Although Black folks represent only 8.8% of Toronto’s population, Black people represented 32.4% of the police charges between 2013-2017.
In Montreal, Black & Indigenous folks were 4 to 5 times more likely than white people to be stopped by police (2014-2017).
The report by Toronto Police on June 15 2022 reinforced these findings, including a statistic that Black residents of Toronto were 230% more likely to have a police officer point a firearm at them when they appeared to be unarmed than white people.
Toronto Police Chief James Ramer addressing the media
Black & Indigenous folks are disproportionately impacted
Black folks are significantly more likely to:
Be subject to police force including: Taser firearms, and police dogs
Be involved in police interactions leading to serious injury, death, or reports of sexual assault
Indigenous Peoples are significantly more likely to:
Be stopped, accused, charged, detained, or arrested
Come into contact with the criminal legal system (including police) as a victim or witness to a crime
Come into contact with the Canadian court system
Experience harassment or discrimination
Experience a serious legal problem related to accessing government assistance
What's the impact of racial profiling?
Disproportionately high rates of "low-quality" charges including obstruction of justice, cannabis possession, and out-of-sight driving
Increased risk of police violence and abuse, which can lead to long-lasting trauma (physical and mental), serious injury, and death
Overrepresentation in the criminal legal system and other colonial institutions (e.g., correctional facilities, child welfare)
Increased distrust of police and the legitimacy of the criminal legal system among racialized groups, which causes underreporting of crime
“Arbitrary, discriminatory police stops, even very short ones, are a serious interference with individuals’ dignity, safety, and mental well-being.”
Not only that, but often these corporations are at the same time actively supporting and funding anti-2SLGBTQIA+ politicians and businesses. This isn't just performative activism: it's intentional and insidious focus-shifting from incredibly harmful practices.
Why is this happening?
As with so many issues, racial profiling can be traced back to colonialism & anti-Black racism in Canada.
THEN (1800s-1900s)
1834: despite the "official" abolition of slavery in Canada, police continued to "control" and criminalize Black folks
1873: John A. McDonald established a militarized force (the North West Mounted Police; NWMP) which he used to forcibly displace Indigenous Peoples
1904: the NWMP joined with the Dominion Police Force to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which helped perpetuate the cultural genocide of Indigenous Peoples, including the residential school system
NOW (2010+)
The RCMP provides police services to all provinces and territories except Ontario and Quebec (which have their own forces)
Across all levels of policing, racial profiling, discrimination and police violence are still very common & harmful practices
...and what can we do about it?
We know the institution of policing is not going to disappear tomorrow (unfortunately), but what we need is more than reform. You can't "reform" white supremacy (#abolish).
Here's what we can (and should!) do:
Decriminalization: We need SYSTEM change. This means getting rid of laws, policies and practices that increase & encourage police interactions with communities at all government levels.
Defund: Stop pretending community safety means more police. We don't want that. We don't need that. That is not community safety. Stop funding THIS SHIT.
Disarm: Did you know over the past 37 years, Canada's deployment of SWAT teams increased by 2000%? What we need is less violence, militarization and brutalization.
Divest & INVEST in alternatives: Taxpayers in Canada spend $41 million dollars A DAY on policing. What else could we be doing with that money? Honestly, anything else would be more worthwhile & less harmful.
Invest in community-based understandings of safety: Getting rid of the police doesn't mean we don't care about our communities. It means we define community safety by ensuring there is food security, affordable housing, and mental health supports, rather than with bullets, confinement, and spiritual bankruptcy.
ABOLISH this shit already!
Want to learn more or take action?!
READ
The Skin We're In by Desmond Cole
Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard
A Disparate Impact interim report (Ontario Human Rights Commission)
The History of Policing in Canada (Wilfred Laurier University)
WATCH
Racial Profiling in Policing 3-part series (McGill University Max Bell School of Public Policy)
Canada’s Dark Secret (via Al Jazeera on YouTube)
TAKE ACTION
Visit : https://defund.ca/ to find your local Defund the Police representative across Turtle Island & take ACTION
Sources: Ontario Human Rights Commission, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics (Stats Canada), ACLU, McGill University, CBC News, Stats Canada, Canadian Civil Liberties Association, The Canadian Encyclopedia, Global News, Wilfred Laurier University, defundthepolice.com.
