EXPERIENCES CANADA

Anti-Racism Conversations

justice & security

Overview

Systemic Racism in the Justice System

• Racial Profiling
• Police Presence in Schools & School-to-prison Pipeline
• Police Brutality
• MMIWG
• Overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous Peoples in Prisons

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Activity : The Game of Life

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Webinar

Racial profiling is different from criminal profiling

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Racial profiling (or ethnic profiling) refers to discriminatory police-initiated actions that target individuals for suspicion of crime based on stereotypical assumptions of the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.

On the other hand, criminal profiling relies on the actual behaviour of an individual or on information about the suspected criminal activity that leads police to target a particular individual who has been identified as engaging, or having been engaged, in the crime.

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• Racial profiling is illegal.
• Racial profiling makes certain groups vulnerable to unjust treatment by law enforcement officials.
• Racial profiling leads to disproportionate arrests and convictions of members of certain groups.

What is racial profiling

Factors of racial profiling

Racial profiling may be based on stereotyped racialized characteristics in combination with race, such as:

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• Clothing and grooming
• Accent or use of a language other than English
• Having a name not usually associated with the dominant population
• Neighbourhood characteristics: e.g. living in an area that is highly populated
• by Indigenous or racialized people or appearing to be “out of place” in an affluent neighbourhood
• Associations: e.g. alleged gang affiliations, being labelled as “known to police”
• Activities: e.g. travelling to places suspected of drug production or to places where there are suspected terrorist activities, engaging in activism around the rights of marginalized people
• Vehicle characteristics: e.g. age, condition or make of vehicle, customized appearance (such as tinted windows).

examples of racial profiling

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• A law enforcement official assumes someone is more likely to have committed a crime because he is Black;
• School personnel treat a Latinx child’s behaviour as an infraction of its zero tolerance policy while the same action by another child might be seen as normal “kids’ play”;
• A private security guard follows an Indigenous shopper because she believes the shopper is more likely to steal from the store;
• An employer wants a stricter security clearance for a Muslim employee;
• A criminal justice system official refuses bail to a person of colour because of a belief that people from her country are violent; and
• A landlord asks a Chinese student to move out because she believes that the tenant will expose her to COVID even though the tenant has not been to any hospitals, been in close contact with anyone or travelled recently.

How to address it

According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, key principles for positive change include:

• Acknowledge racial profiling as a reality in the domain of law enforcement that violates the Police Services Act.
• Meaningfully engage and work closely with Indigenous peoples and racialized communities to understand the concerns and issues they face in the context of law enforcement.
• Adopt and implement all appropriate standards, guidelines, policies and strict directives to address and end racial profiling.
• Require police services to establish permanent data collection and retention systems to record human rights-based data on stops and searches of civilians.
• Require independent, arms-length and public monitoring of police services and police services boards regarding racial profiling.
• Require regular, detailed and ongoing human rights-focused training, developed in consultation with affected groups, on racial profiling, unconscious bias and related topics for new recruits, current officers, investigators and supervisors.

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police presence in schools and the school to prison pipeline

Rethinking school safety

• Black and Indigenous people disproportionately face surveillance, harassment, and violence from police. Police presence often brings these discriminatory patterns into schools, causing many BIPOC students have negative associations with law enforcement from an early age.
• Many school boards across Canada are now grappling with the role of School Resource Officers (SROs) - a role that is meant to provide security and build relationships with young people. Sometimes, effects can be positive. For many BIPOC students, however, the presence of police disrupts their learning environments and makes them feel less safe, rather than more safe.

Alternative to SRos

Instead of funding costly SRO programs, schools and school boards may want to consider more ways of making schools more inclusive, healthier, and safer places for young people.

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They can invest in mental and physical health by hiring guidance counsellors or other safety monitors, and implementing breakfast programs.

They could commit to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action by working to decolonize curriculum.

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What other ways could your school ensure safety for all its students?

The school to prison pipeline

How SROs facilitate the pipeline

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The ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ refers to the trend through which students are pushed out of schools and into prisons. In particular, BIPOC youth, students with learning disabilities or that have histories of poverty, abuse, or neglect, are criminalized by disciplinary policies and practices within schools, which then puts them in contact with law enforcement officers and funnels them towards the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

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This pipeline can be blocked by providing necessary educational and counselling services and avoiding harsh punishments.

overrepresentation of black and indigenous people in prison

Indigenization’ of the correctional system

Indigenous and Black Canadians are significantly overrepresented in both federal and provincial correctional institutions. They face bias and are subjected to unfair treatment throughout the criminal justice process, from increased contact with police to disproportionate sentencing and parole outcomes.

In particular, Indigenous inmates are disproportionately funneled to maximum-security institutions, face increased incidents involving use of force and self-harm, and historically have been more likely to be placed in solitary-confinement units. Once in prison, Indigenous and Black inmates are more likely to be subject to disciplinary procedures and less likely to be paroled.

Despite facing higher incidences of contact with police, Black and Indigenous people are more likely to be victims of crime.

High numbers of Black youth, especially males, report being stopped regularly or searched by police – approximately double the rate of white youth. An analysis of 10,000 arrests in Toronto showed that Blacks were 50% more likely to be taken to a police station for processing after arrest, and 100% more likely to be held overnight than were whites, even taking into account criminal history and age. When given bail, they had more conditions imposed.

Blacks are overrepresented in federal prisons by more than 300% compared to their population, while Indigenous people are over represented by nearly 500%.

The same disparities exist in provincial jails:

• In Nova Scotia, Blacks are 2% of the population but 14% of the jail population.
• In Manitoba, Aboriginals are 16% of the population but 70% of the jail population.
• In Alberta, Aboriginals are 6% of the population and 39% of the jail population.

Indigenous people make up more than 21% of federal prisoners but less than 14% of parolees, a 50% under-representation.

Causes of overrepresentation

In 1996, the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was released. It found that the greatest contributors to overrepresentation were the colonial values underlying Canadian criminal laws, policies and practices that have had negative impacts on Indigenous people. As a result of Canada’s colonial history, Indigenous people have been subjected to assimilation policies and practices that have created collective and individual intergenerational trauma resulting in negative impacts.

There are many reasons for the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the prison system, including:

• Various social and economic factors and conditions
• Lack of access to services and supports
• Intergenerational trauma
• Inadequate housing
• Limited education and employment opportunities
• Discrimination in the system

What do you think can be done to better support Indigenous peoples in the Criminal Justice System?

Reducing incarceration rates

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), as well as other studies and organizations have made recommendations to reduce incarceration rates for Indigenous peoples. Some of their suggestions include:

• Transferring resources and responsibility to Indigenous groups and communities for the care, custody and supervision of Indigenous offenders.
• Appointing a Deputy Commissioner for Indigenous Corrections.
• Increasing access and availability of culturally relevant correctional programming.
• Clarifying and enhancing the role of Indigenous elders.
• Improving engagement with Indigenous communities and enhance their capacity to provide reintegration services.
• Enhancing access to screening, diagnosis and treatment of Indigenous offenders affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
• Developing assessment and classification tools responsive to the needs and realities of Indigenous people caught up in the criminal justice system.
• Self-determination, empowering communities to help themselves.
• Adequate legal representation to avoid Indigenous peoples being remanded for extended periods of time without contact from a lawyer.

police brutality in Canada

A 2018 report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) found that Black residents in Toronto are 20 times more likely to be killed by police than white people.

The over-representation of Black civilians appeared to increase with seriousness of police conduct. In 2016, Black people made up 8.8% of the Toronto population. However, from 2013-2017, they made up:

• 25.4% (62) of SIU investigations
• 28.8% (36) of police use of force cases
• 36% (9) of police shootings
• 61.5% (8) of police use of force cases that resulted in civilian death
• 70% (7) of police shootings that resulted in civilian death.

Between 2013 and 2017, a Black person was far more likely than a White person to be involved in an incident involving Toronto Police use of force that resulted in serious injury or death. A Black person was:

• 3.1 times more likely than a White person to be involved in a SIU investigation
• 3.6 times more likely than a White person to be involved in a police use of force case
• 4.9 times more likely than a White person to be involved in a police shooting that resulted in serious civilian injury or death
• 11.3 times more likely than a White person to be involved in a police use of force case that resulted in civilian death
• 19.5 times more likely than a White person to be involved in a police shooting that resulted in civilian death.

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Missing and murdered indigenous women and girls

A National Crisis

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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls refers to a human rights crisis and epidemic affecting Inuit, Métis, and First Nations communities. It also affects LGBTQ and Two-Spirit people.

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The National Inquiry asserts that this violence amounts to a race-based genocide, which has been empowered by colonial structures evidenced notably by the Indian Act, the Sixties Scoop, residential schools and breaches of human and Indigenous rights, leading directly to the current increased rates of violence, death, and suicide in Indigenous populations

MMIwg facts

• 67% are murder cases (death as the result of homicide or negligence);
• 20% are cases of missing women or girls;
• 4% are cases of suspicious death—deaths regarded as natural or accidental by police, but considered suspicious by family or community members; and
• 9% are cases where the nature of the case is unknown—it is unclear whether the woman was murdered, is missing, or died in suspicious circumstances.

• 16.5% of offenders are strangers with no prior connection to the woman or girl (in contrast, Statistics Canada reports that, between 1997 and 2004, only 6% of murdered non-Indigenous women were killed by strangers);
• 17% of offenders are acquaintances of the woman or girl (a friend, neighbour or someone else known to her); and
• 23% are a current or former partner of the woman or girl.

MMIwg final report and calls for justice

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which began its journey in August 2016 to learn the truth and find solutions to end the alarming rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls, completed its work in a closing ceremony on June 3, 2019.

There are 231 Calls for Justice in the final report. The following is an excerpt from the Calls for Justice to all Canadians:

• Denounce and speak out against violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
• Decolonize by learning the true history of Canada and Indigenous history in your local area.
• Protect, support, and promote the safety of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people by acknowledging and respecting the value of every person.
• Help hold all governments accountable to act on the Calls for Justice.
• Confront and speak out against racism, sexism, ignorance, homophobia, and transphobia, and teach or encourage others to do the same.

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Call to Action: What can you do to heed the Calls for Justice as highlighted in the final report?

Activity: the game of life

Divide into groups of 4

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Open The Game of Life. Assign character cards.

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Roll the dice to determine the order of play - highest roll goes first, lowest goes last.

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Play the game through - First to the finish line wins!

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Discuss:

• In real life, what sorts of situations would determine whether each character passes a test, gets a detention, gets suspended, arrested, goes missing, or succeeds in school?
• How much does luck have to do with winning? Hard work?
• What can be done to ensure a fairer game? Feel free to change the rules and play again.