Exploring Theme: "Systemic Racism in Policing"

Kent Roach is a professor of law at the University of Toronto and is the author of Canadian Policing: Why and How it Must Change. The Globe and Mail: Between late August and early November, nine Indigenous men and one Indigenous woman died at the hands of police in Canada. Despite an emergency debate in Parliament and calls...

Crown-Indigenous relations minister calls string of police-involved deaths across Canada troubling CBC News: The Canadian Press – A group of Black and Indigenous women say they want a national public inquiry into a recent spate of police-involved deaths after nine Indigenous people were killed in interactions with police in August and September. About two dozen...

Top row, left, Jack Piché, Hoss Lightning Saddleback, Tammy Bateman. Centre left, Jason West, Daniel Knife, Steve Dedam. Lower left, Ronald Skunk, Jon Wells, lower right, Joseph Desjarlais. All were killed in police interactions. APTN News: An Alberta MP is calling for a national inquiry into the recent spate of First Nations people dying during...

NationTalk: Gitanyow Lax’yip – The Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs are outraged by the latest development in the case of Dale Culver, who died in RCMP custody seven years ago. After being found guilty of obstruction of justice this summer, Constable Arthur Dalman’s lawyers have filed a stay of proceedings, citing alleged breaches of his Charter Rights,...

NDP MP Lori Idlout rises during an emergency debate, which was called after six First Nations people died at the hands of police officers over the last few weeks, in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Sept. 16. Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press The Globe and Mail: The deaths of eight Indigenous people...

Winnipeg Free Press: The death of Tammy Bateman, an unhoused Indigenous woman run over by Winnipeg police, is a horrific event — one that has negatively impacted and traumatized people who are already among the most marginalized and oppressed in our society. In addition to the many questions it raises about police actions — driving...

APTN News: Federal Justice Minister David Lametti has ordered a new trial for two First Nations men from Manitoba who were convicted of the 1973 murder of Ting Fong Chan. Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse were convicted in 1974 and sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 10 years. “The Minister has determined...

‘When these numbers are not tracked, it’s a lot easier to dismiss the magnitude of the problem’ CBC News: Joanne MacIsaac recalls the day in 2013 when she found out police had shot and killed her brother Michael. “Something like that changes you,” MacIsaac said. Michael MacIsaac was shot dead by a Durham police officer...

NationTalk: MASHTEUIATSH, QC, VANCOUVER, BC and WENDAKE, QC, Dec. 21, 2022– The federal and provincial governments are being called upon to accept the findings of the Quebec Court of Appeal in the matter of the underfunding of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan police services and to end the chronic underfunding of Indigenous police services across the country. In response to the ruling...

NationTalk: (Ottawa, ON) – Today, Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation) Chief Wilfred King has launched a legal action in Federal Court against Public Safety Canada and other federal departments in response to the inequitable funding of First Nations Police Services. King, along with Legal Counsel Chantelle Bryson (Potestio Law) announced the legal action...

“The fear and lack of choice that Dawn Walker says drove her decision to flee to the United States is reflected in the thousands of testimonies heard by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls who faced systemic discrimination on all fronts – we need to act on the Calls to...

Southern Chiefs Organization (SCO) – “Only 53% of murder cases involving [Indigenous] women and girls have led to charges of homicide. This is dramatically different from the national clearance rate for homicides in Canada, which was last reported as 84%” (NWAC, 2011). Governments and Canadian institutions now need to fully implement the Calls for Justice....

MacDonald-Laurier Institute – “Systemic racism in policing in Canada and approaches to fixing it,” argues that the fault for this lies primarily with political leaders who set the framework conditions and constraints for the delivery of police services. This commentary is based on the author’s written submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on...

The CBC “Deadly Force” database indicates that the RCMP are 3x more likely to use lethal force than other police forces in Canada. The CBC data found that 68 per cent of people killed in police encounters were suffering with some kind of mental illness, addiction or both. “When we get broader statistical information that...