Toronto - In a statement marking the first anniversary of the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s report, Paying the Price: The Human Cost of Racial Profiling, Chief Commissioner Keith Norton noted that a lot of work still needs to be done to address racial profiling.
December 2003 - In order to bridge the divide between those who deny the existence of racial profiling on the one hand, and the communities who have long held that they are targets of racial profiling on the other, the Commission plans to
December 2003 - The Commission’s racial profiling inquiry initiative was undertaken in response to community concerns about the impact of profiling on members of their respective communities. The inquiry’s main objectives were to give individuals who had been subjected to profiling an opportunity to share those experiences and to show its effects on their families and communities. In doing so, the Commission hoped to raise public awareness of the harmful effects and the social costs of racial profiling.
From: OHRC Response to the Race Data and Traffic Stops in Ottawa Report
The results from the OPS data collection project are situated within a context of historical police/community relations with racialized and Indigenous peoples in Ottawa and Canada generally. Many Supreme Court of Canada decisions and research studies show that systemic discrimination in policing is a reality. The York University researchers’ findings are similar to the results of other research conducted on police bias.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) stands with Black communities in Ontario, in Canada and around the world in confronting and condemning anti-Black racism as it is experienced through racial profiling and other forms of systemic racial discrimination.
From: Public interest inquiry into racial profiling and discrimination by the Toronto Police Service
The Association of Black Law Enforcers (A.B.L.E.) is an organization representing the interests of active and retired individuals who are, or were employed as Police and Peace Officers in Federal, Provincial, and Municipal Law Enforcement Agencies. We are also individuals who belong to Black, and Racialized communities in Canada.
November 30, 2017 - the Ontario Human Rights Commission announced that it has launched a public interest inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination by the Toronto Police Service (TPS). Using its legislated inquiry powers under section 31 of Ontario’s Human Rights Code, the OHRC has called for the TPS, the Toronto Police Services Board and the Special Investigations Unit to provide a wide range of data to determine exactly how and where racial profiling operates in law enforcement.
September 15, 2017 - Dear Chair El-Chantiry and Chief Bordeleau, Today, I am writing to request an update on the OPS’s response to the Traffic Stop Race Data Collection Project (TSRDCP) report dated October 2016. In particular, please let us know by reply letter what steps the OPS has undertaken to combat racial profiling since the TSRDCP report was released, including any further analysis that the OPS has undertaken at an operational level, specific changes to OPS’ policies and procedures, and any internal or external analysis of the data collected since the TSRDCP report was released.
Today the OHRC released its Framework for change to address systemic racism in policing, calling on Ontario to establish a legislative and regulatory framework to directly address systemic racial discrimination in policing across the province.
The Toronto Police Services Board’s Draft Policy is an important step in its efforts to monitor and oversee reforms to the current approach to Community Contacts. The Draft Policy refers to important principles including disengagement, rights knowledge, and compliance with the Human Rights Code and the Charter. We agree that surveys to gauge public satisfaction regarding street checks, and data collection in a separate database to monitor for racial bias in street checks, are valuable.
