‘We do not accept your apology,’ the activist told Chief Ramer

On Wednesday morning, the Toronto Police Service chief released data on race-related interactions between police officers and Toronto citizens. According to these data, the use of force by Toronto police officers does not equal the impact on people of race.

Toronto Police Chief James Ramer apologized in relation to the statistics.

Chief Ramer, we do not accept your apologysaid Beverly Bain, of the group No Pride in Policing [Pas de fierté dans le maintien de l’ordre, traduction libre]. The activist was present at the press conference and delivered words in a passionate speech to Chief Ramer.

” What we ask of you is to stop. To stop the oppression of us. For us to stop killing ourselves! “

Several other activist groups reacted similarly to the leaked data and to Chief Ramer’s apology.

However, the Toronto Police Associationthe Toronto Police Service Police Association, has requested a better picture of interactions between its police officers and people of race.

Public relations

According to Ms. Bain, Mr. Ramer’s presentation and apology were at least a public relations stunt who insulting for blacks and aboriginals.

In a press release, the group No Pride in Policing called for the abolition of all forms of policing. The Toronto Police Service apologizes for years of violence against black people, but […] we didn’t ask for anything, especially not to apologize. We continue to call for a policy change that eliminates the need to apologize.

Withdraw funds and eventually remove the Toronto Police Service, and redistribute its budgets to provide funds [à des projets de] social housing, food, public transport […].

The statement was signed by Ms. Bain and Desmond Cole, a black rights activist from Toronto. He reacted to the press conference on Twitter. We don’t apologize to the police, we ask for lasting change [du maire de Toronto] John Tory and politicians in Torontois there anything written.

Political reactions

Mr. Tory issued a statement regarding data released by the police department on Wednesday.

We must eliminate systematic racism anywhere in our city, including the Toronto Police Service. This is why I supported the collection and now the public release of this data so that our police service is fully accountable. Although they are disturbing, these data […] will help ensure that progress is made to address this systematic hatred and ultimately eliminate it.

For its part, the New Democratic Party, the official opposition in Queen’s Park, published a press release signed by its MPs Jill Andrew and Laura Mae Lindo.

The only way to finally break this vicious circle and ensure lasting justice and fairness for Ontarians is fundamental change. [le système]can we read there.

It has long been clear that Black, Indigenous and racialized people are not treated fairly by the police because of systemic racism and are overly afraid of police interactions. We thank Dr. Notisha Massaquoi and her team for their leadership and years of hard work in shedding light on this first report.

Dr. Massaquoi is co-chair of the Toronto Police Services Board’s Anti-Racism Advisory Committee that created the program guidelines on race-based data collection.

He reacted to the released data as well as Chief Ramer’s apology on Twitter.

” Systematic racism cannot exist in an organization without racist employees. “

The police association likes the context

According to the Toronto Police Association (TPA), the results [de l’étude publiée mercredi] is frustrating and leaves more questions than answers, including why the differences exist or what factors led to a police encounter in the first place.

The data tells us over 90% of all incidents where [des policiers ont eu] The use of force was the result of a reactive police encounter, meaning our officers responded to a call for service, which more than half were violent calls for service. Although some benchmarks may have been applied, the data do not reflect the totality of each interaction, as no context is given to the events or individual agents they addressed.will we read in a press release released on Wednesday afternoon of TPA.

For his part, Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, special adviser on anti-Black racism for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association also asked for more context in the data, but for a completely different reason.

[Le Service de police de Toronto] has been forced to release this information, but it only provides little insight into how blacks and other racialized communities are disproportionately affected by police actions. Police have the ability to provide race data on a wide range of police interactions and results, but they don’t.

Their current approach to race -based data is inadequate. It must greatly expand and accelerate. It’s time to stop giving passes to the police and ask them to start acting in the interest of the communities they say they serve.written by Mr. Owusu-Bempah in the Canadian Civil Liberties Association press release published on Wednesday.