janiecakes
TRIBE Member
from The Toronto Star today:
Terrible toll of racial profiling
Issue isn't limited to police, says commissioner
Stories reveal the prevalence of painful incidents
ROBERT BENZIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
Racial profiling in Ontario is a pervasive problem that robs citizens of their dignity, drains the economy and erodes trust in law enforcement, a new report concludes.
In an 81-page study, "Paying the Price: The Human Cost of Racial Profiling," Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Keith Norton yesterday warned that racist stereotyping is a grave concern in Canada's most ethnically diverse province.
Among the report's recommendations is the idea of placing video cameras in all police vehicles, a plan backed yesterday by Monte Kwinter, minister of community safety and correctional services.
Norton's emotionally charged report is based on submissions from more than 400 people who described the humiliation of being racially profiled, by everyone from police to waiters.
One story came from Andrea Berry, who spoke about being pulled over while driving along Bayview Ave. in an expensive-looking SUV. Berry, 48, co-owner of an advertising company, was driving her sister-in-law home when she saw the flashing police lights in her mirror.
"The officer checked the car, came back, said, `Do you realize this car is registered to a company?' At this point, I don't know why I was stopped. I'm just being scrutinized. I said, `Well, it's my company.'"
Another story came from a school teacher, who said being pulled aside and closely questioned while returning from a holiday in Jamaica made her "feel like a second-class citizen."
Norton's report features dozens of similar accounts of incidents in stores, restaurants, schools and other places, plus steps some people take to avoid the effects of racial profiling.
"I have a teenaged grandson who should be able to go out, visit his friends, and do the normal things that teenagers do," said one submission. "We don't allow him to. His mother chauffeurs him or I chauffeur him or his aunts chauffeur him or his uncle chauffeurs him."
Berry, who was 7 when she came to Canada, said that the traffic stop still stings.
"It's just fundamentally wrong and unfair. In our society, when somebody wrongs us, we have a recourse, we have the courts, we have the law. When that happens with an officer of the law, the arm of the law, what's our recourse? You have to swallow it."
Norton used uncompromising language in his report and in discussing it yesterday.
"Racial profiling is not just about traffic stops by the police," the commissioner told reporters at Queen's Park.
"It is a problem, and it's a problem that has to be addressed. We certainly will continue to take complaints, and if we see a situation which might justify a systemic investigation, the commission can initiate that as well. They ignore it at their peril.
"We cannot afford to allow racial profiling to be tolerated and practised in this province.
"There is ... an economic cost to society. We really do need to take some action," Norton said.
The provincial government heralded Norton's findings and vowed to tackle the problem.
Racial profiling is unacceptable, said Premier Dalton McGuinty, "and we are going to have to carefully consider the report that he is providing to us and look for ways to ensure that we guard against that."
Norton was dismissive of those who claim the practice does not exist. "The commission's position is that profiling does occur," he said.
The human-rights watchdog insisted he was "not specifically" referring to Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino with his criticism of those who deny the existence of racial profiling.
"There are others who have denied it exists. He speaks for himself, and you know what he's said."
Fantino denounced the "flawed" report during a news conference at which he was flanked by Halton Region police Chief Ean Algar.
"It was an abuse of the public policy the OHRC claims to represent," Fantino said in a statement.
"This inquiry was neither fair nor equitable and in every way discriminated against the fine men and women of the Toronto Police Service and every other police service across the province."
Norton acknowledged that his report "adopted a broad definition of profiling."
"We defined it as any action taken for reasons of safety, security or public protection that relies on stereotypes about race, colour, ethnicity, ancestry, religion or place of origin rather than on reasonable suspicion to single out an individual for greater scrutiny or different treatment."
Norton stressed that the 19 recommendations in the report should be considered by more than just police services.
"The recommendations are aimed at all organizations or institutions that may have a problem with racial profiling and include ... the education system, immigration and customs officials, staff in malls and stores and restaurants, taxi companies and airport and airline security," he said.
"I want to make a very clear distinction between racial profiling and criminal profiling. The commission is certainly not opposed to informed criminal profiling. The police can certainly legitimately stop people if they are pursuing a criminal profile."
Community safety minister Kwinter said he is already working on following up on some recommendations.
"We do believe that (racial profiling) exists, but ... we want to make sure that what we do solves the problem and isn't just talking about it," he said.
Kwinter noted that by February an experiment with cameras in police cruisers, one of the recommendations, would be underway.
"We've already approved a pilot project with the OPP. There's going to be 12 video cameras put into OPP vehicles in Kenora, dealing with native people, where there certainly is an issue of perceived profiling," the minister said.
"We're going to put 22 of them into the Toronto area, where again there is an area of perceived profiling. And we're going to have two for research and development," he said.
"The goal is to eventually get those into all police vehicles in Ontario."
Attorney-General Michael Bryant said racial profiling undermines the potential contributions of visible minorities.
"This report was very clear that no aspect of society is immune from the possibility of racial profiling. This affects a number of public safety providers ... and that affects our multicultural communities," Bryant said.
"Surely the first step is to take a zero-tolerance approach to racial profiling," he said.
But Conservative Leader Ernie Eves disputed the findings.
"I can't comment on what led Mr. Norton to his conclusions. Obviously, he has a different role to fulfill than that of, say, the chief of police in the city of Toronto," the former premier said.
Eves expressed concern over Norton's reliance on anecdotal evidence rather than statistical data.
"If you wanted to do a proper look at whether that is there or not, I think you'd want to get objective information, and lots of it — not just respond to whoever decided to launch a complaint," he said.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton, who was attorney-general in the government of former premier Bob Rae, said the previous Conservative government's cuts set back race relations.
"There was an anti-racism secretariat within the government. It had a very modest budget. Its job was very much as described by commissioner Norton," Hampton said.
"Its job was to ensure that, across the broader public service, that everyone was aware of racism, that people were taking steps to battle systemic racism," he said.
"There was an independent police complaints commission that had credibility. That was dismantled, too."
Norton's inquiry was sparked by widespread public debate following last year's award-winning Race and Crime series in the Star.
The Star obtained access to a police database that held records of more than 480,000 incidents in which a person was arrested or ticketed, and close to 800,000 criminal and other charges.
The newspaper's analysis of the data found, among other things, that black people charged with simple drug possession were taken to a police station more often than whites facing the same charge.
___________________________________________
You can read the report here:
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/racial-profiling-report.shtml
Terrible toll of racial profiling
Issue isn't limited to police, says commissioner
Stories reveal the prevalence of painful incidents
ROBERT BENZIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
Racial profiling in Ontario is a pervasive problem that robs citizens of their dignity, drains the economy and erodes trust in law enforcement, a new report concludes.
In an 81-page study, "Paying the Price: The Human Cost of Racial Profiling," Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Keith Norton yesterday warned that racist stereotyping is a grave concern in Canada's most ethnically diverse province.
Among the report's recommendations is the idea of placing video cameras in all police vehicles, a plan backed yesterday by Monte Kwinter, minister of community safety and correctional services.
Norton's emotionally charged report is based on submissions from more than 400 people who described the humiliation of being racially profiled, by everyone from police to waiters.
One story came from Andrea Berry, who spoke about being pulled over while driving along Bayview Ave. in an expensive-looking SUV. Berry, 48, co-owner of an advertising company, was driving her sister-in-law home when she saw the flashing police lights in her mirror.
"The officer checked the car, came back, said, `Do you realize this car is registered to a company?' At this point, I don't know why I was stopped. I'm just being scrutinized. I said, `Well, it's my company.'"
Another story came from a school teacher, who said being pulled aside and closely questioned while returning from a holiday in Jamaica made her "feel like a second-class citizen."
Norton's report features dozens of similar accounts of incidents in stores, restaurants, schools and other places, plus steps some people take to avoid the effects of racial profiling.
"I have a teenaged grandson who should be able to go out, visit his friends, and do the normal things that teenagers do," said one submission. "We don't allow him to. His mother chauffeurs him or I chauffeur him or his aunts chauffeur him or his uncle chauffeurs him."
Berry, who was 7 when she came to Canada, said that the traffic stop still stings.
"It's just fundamentally wrong and unfair. In our society, when somebody wrongs us, we have a recourse, we have the courts, we have the law. When that happens with an officer of the law, the arm of the law, what's our recourse? You have to swallow it."
Norton used uncompromising language in his report and in discussing it yesterday.
"Racial profiling is not just about traffic stops by the police," the commissioner told reporters at Queen's Park.
"It is a problem, and it's a problem that has to be addressed. We certainly will continue to take complaints, and if we see a situation which might justify a systemic investigation, the commission can initiate that as well. They ignore it at their peril.
"We cannot afford to allow racial profiling to be tolerated and practised in this province.
"There is ... an economic cost to society. We really do need to take some action," Norton said.
The provincial government heralded Norton's findings and vowed to tackle the problem.
Racial profiling is unacceptable, said Premier Dalton McGuinty, "and we are going to have to carefully consider the report that he is providing to us and look for ways to ensure that we guard against that."
Norton was dismissive of those who claim the practice does not exist. "The commission's position is that profiling does occur," he said.
The human-rights watchdog insisted he was "not specifically" referring to Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino with his criticism of those who deny the existence of racial profiling.
"There are others who have denied it exists. He speaks for himself, and you know what he's said."
Fantino denounced the "flawed" report during a news conference at which he was flanked by Halton Region police Chief Ean Algar.
"It was an abuse of the public policy the OHRC claims to represent," Fantino said in a statement.
"This inquiry was neither fair nor equitable and in every way discriminated against the fine men and women of the Toronto Police Service and every other police service across the province."
Norton acknowledged that his report "adopted a broad definition of profiling."
"We defined it as any action taken for reasons of safety, security or public protection that relies on stereotypes about race, colour, ethnicity, ancestry, religion or place of origin rather than on reasonable suspicion to single out an individual for greater scrutiny or different treatment."
Norton stressed that the 19 recommendations in the report should be considered by more than just police services.
"The recommendations are aimed at all organizations or institutions that may have a problem with racial profiling and include ... the education system, immigration and customs officials, staff in malls and stores and restaurants, taxi companies and airport and airline security," he said.
"I want to make a very clear distinction between racial profiling and criminal profiling. The commission is certainly not opposed to informed criminal profiling. The police can certainly legitimately stop people if they are pursuing a criminal profile."
Community safety minister Kwinter said he is already working on following up on some recommendations.
"We do believe that (racial profiling) exists, but ... we want to make sure that what we do solves the problem and isn't just talking about it," he said.
Kwinter noted that by February an experiment with cameras in police cruisers, one of the recommendations, would be underway.
"We've already approved a pilot project with the OPP. There's going to be 12 video cameras put into OPP vehicles in Kenora, dealing with native people, where there certainly is an issue of perceived profiling," the minister said.
"We're going to put 22 of them into the Toronto area, where again there is an area of perceived profiling. And we're going to have two for research and development," he said.
"The goal is to eventually get those into all police vehicles in Ontario."
Attorney-General Michael Bryant said racial profiling undermines the potential contributions of visible minorities.
"This report was very clear that no aspect of society is immune from the possibility of racial profiling. This affects a number of public safety providers ... and that affects our multicultural communities," Bryant said.
"Surely the first step is to take a zero-tolerance approach to racial profiling," he said.
But Conservative Leader Ernie Eves disputed the findings.
"I can't comment on what led Mr. Norton to his conclusions. Obviously, he has a different role to fulfill than that of, say, the chief of police in the city of Toronto," the former premier said.
Eves expressed concern over Norton's reliance on anecdotal evidence rather than statistical data.
"If you wanted to do a proper look at whether that is there or not, I think you'd want to get objective information, and lots of it — not just respond to whoever decided to launch a complaint," he said.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton, who was attorney-general in the government of former premier Bob Rae, said the previous Conservative government's cuts set back race relations.
"There was an anti-racism secretariat within the government. It had a very modest budget. Its job was very much as described by commissioner Norton," Hampton said.
"Its job was to ensure that, across the broader public service, that everyone was aware of racism, that people were taking steps to battle systemic racism," he said.
"There was an independent police complaints commission that had credibility. That was dismantled, too."
Norton's inquiry was sparked by widespread public debate following last year's award-winning Race and Crime series in the Star.
The Star obtained access to a police database that held records of more than 480,000 incidents in which a person was arrested or ticketed, and close to 800,000 criminal and other charges.
The newspaper's analysis of the data found, among other things, that black people charged with simple drug possession were taken to a police station more often than whites facing the same charge.
___________________________________________
You can read the report here:
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/racial-profiling-report.shtml
