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The OHRC held extensive consultations with a wide range of stakeholders. Members of Black communities and organizations serving Black communities were engaged through interviews, focus groups, and a policy roundtable with police leaders to discuss pressing policing issues and potential reforms. The OHRC also interviewed TPS and TPSB leadership, and conducted a survey of TPS officers.
This chapter provides a high-level summary of the results from these consultations, which also informed this final report and the recommendations.
Consultations with Black communities
The OHRC met with individuals and representatives from local organizations that reflect the range of lived experiences and intersectional identities that exist within Black communities. Many of the issues identified in A Collective Impact were discussed again and remain unresolved. For example, we continued to hear serious concerns about systemic racism, police brutality, overcharging, arbitrary stops, and other modes of abusive policing. These consultations further revealed the impact of disproportionate and discriminatory policing.
During consultations, we canvassed a range of possible solutions to the most pressing issues. Some stakeholders advocated for reforms directed toward changing front-line policing and improving accountability mechanisms. Others took the position that law enforcement is fundamentally flawed, and that meaningful transformation requires an end to police services as we know them and the creation of new public safety services.
This section of the report provides a summary of the key issues and potential solutions advanced by Black communities.
Transfer of current police functions to other agencies/organizations (de-tasking)
Members from some Black communities have called for “de-tasking and defunding”1 and “disarming” in response to the over-policing and instances of excessive force. The OHRC sought to better understand the communities’ perspectives on de-tasking, defunding, and disarming because these concepts also emerged as popular rallying cries and shaped much of the public debate surrounding policing reform in North American cities, including Toronto in 2020.
Calls for “de-tasking” are based on the idea that transferring services or tasks away from the police may help reduce negative outcomes. Many stakeholders stated that allocating funds to social programs instead of policing will create safer, healthier, and more equitable communities that are less reliant on police services.
What we heard from Black participants about transferring tasks to non-police agencies is summarized below. Further discussion of de-tasking and disarming is included in Chapter 7.
De-tasking is generally understood as “the delegation of current police tasks towards more appropriate organizations and institutions, thus reducing the negative consequences of police engagement in unsuitable activities and reducing the police budget.”2
De-tasking may not reduce police budgets. It is possible that entities that assume tasks from the police can receive funding from sources outside of police budgets. In other words, police budgets are not necessarily tied to a particular task. As such, police funding may not be reduced if officers are assigned fewer tasks.
The idea of de-tasking received broad support during the OHRC’s consultations, including from some police officers. One Black TPS officer stated:
I would gladly take a pay cut if it meant more hands helping more people. I recognise that not everybody is a caregiver in our community, but if there are people who actually want to do the work – not just lip service to say, “oh, I could do that,” or “it should be this.” The people ready and willing to be like “OK, I'm ready to be a street social worker,” “I'm ready to attend these calls at three in the morning on a Saturday for somebody who is in crisis.” If there are people there, then yes, please…reallocate those funds.
Because a lot of the calls are not police calls; those calls should be sent to agencies and organizations that are able to deal with individuals without the stigma that comes with being a police officer. Because not every person in crisis wants to see a police officer. They can be very triggering for certain communities, and in my experience, especially communities from other countries where people don’t trust the police at all.3
In an interview following the policy roundtable, Anthony Morgan (Manager, Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit, City of Toronto) stated:
I think if they were to become a lot more scoped in their work ... the resources that they get [could go] to supporting communities more generally. So, it's not even through police, it's just from council, from city budgets [which could better support] food programs, mental health programs, education programs, job training, all those things.... I don't think it would solve everything, but I think it would address a lot.4
Many community members recognized the need to critically examine several of the functions currently assigned to police, and evaluate budgets required for policing services. Responding to people in crisis was routinely advanced as an area where de-tasking could improve community safety outcomes.
We also heard that transferring tasks to non-police community safety providers would help vulnerable communities who are fearful of contacting the police. Persons with precarious immigration status and sex-workers were identified as the types of vulnerable groups within Black communities who could benefit from improved access to community-based public safety services.5 Community members also advocated for the creation of new public safety services or phone lines that could serve as an alternative to police service in appropriate circumstances.6
Mental health
During our consultations, members of Black communities consistently identified mental health crisis response as a task that could be more effectively performed by services staffed by mental health professionals rather than the police.
They questioned police officers’ de-escalation training and ability to resolve crisis situations non-violently in light of several high-profile police shootings and fatal encounters. Some participants felt the enforcement mindset of police culture undermines relationships with Black people, and erodes the public’s trust in officers’ ability to assist persons in crisis.
Participants took the position that officers are unsuited to de-escalate mental health-related calls, since the very presence of an officer may heighten the anxiety experienced by some members of the public. They referenced the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet and critiqued the current model for addressing persons in crisis.
They noted that fear and anxiety associated with engaging with police is amplified due to the history of over-policing and criminalization that has shaped their relationship with the police. These conversations included concerns about the disproportionate number of Black persons in crisis who have been fatally shot by the TPS.7
To reduce the number of police officers dispatched to crisis calls, participants noted the importance of effectively screening emergency calls and directing callers to alternative mental health supports.
In addition, members of Black communities supported calls to create a health-care-led response to crisis calls. Trained health-care professionals were viewed as being better equipped to de-escalate situations involving persons in crisis. The unique training provided to health-care professionals, and their ability to respond without the threat of lethal force or authority to charge or arrest an individual were cited as reasons for supporting a health-care model. Participants told the OHRC that an alternative crisis response unit could reduce or eliminate the need for Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams (MCITs), which include police officers (paired with mental health nurses).
Nonetheless, support for health-care-led responses to crisis calls was tempered by concerns about anti-Black racism and discrimination within health-care systems. Community members noted that the health-care system is not immune from systemic and anti-Black racism. Careful planning and training must take place to ensure health-care workers who respond to crisis calls do not subject Black people to racism. We heard:
If the intent is just to re-invest in mainstream services, we will re-create an existing problem. We would just be re-creating and reinforcing racist systems. I know people want to move fast. I just hope it will not be with blinders on.8
Other police functions
Participants identified other police functions that could be performed by other services. For example, they questioned the logic of sending armed officers to address non-emergency occurrences such as excessive noise and public nuisance complaints.
Use of force
Participants spoke extensively about police use of force. We heard that much of the fear and mistrust between Black communities and the police stemmed from interactions where officers have improperly used force.
Some interviewees noted that officers’ discretion to use force, including lethal force, is disproportionately exercised against members of Black communities. They contended that this is linked to stereotypes about Black persons, which cause them to be unfairly viewed as threats. Participants raised concerns about the extent to which race is involved when use-of-force incidents are reviewed. Gaps in this area may undermine efforts to hold officers accountable.
Participants also expressed frustration with the SIU and court decisions that have not held officers responsible for using excessive force because the officers claimed they were acting in self-defence.
Use-of-force options
When discussing use of force, community members routinely mentioned the names of Albert Johnson,9 Lester Donaldson,10 Andrew Loku,11 and other Black persons who were fatally shot by the police. Considering the tragic circumstances surrounding these deaths, they questioned the utility of deploying officers armed with guns to service calls related to low-level criminal activity, persons experiencing mental health crises, or wellness checks.
There were mixed viewpoints on less lethal use-of-force options available to front-line officers. These options include conducted energy weapons (CEWs) – better known as Tasers – and batons. Acknowledging these weapons were less likely to cause civilian fatalities, participants expressed some support for using these options instead of firearms wherever possible. However, support was tempered by concerns about civilian fatalities linked to CEWs.12
Others noted that use-of-force equipment (e.g., guns or CEWs) will not reduce racial disparities in use-of-force data or fatalities. In their view, the goal should be to limit an officer’s discretion to use force in all circumstances. One interviewee stated, “We also have to think about how the police use their bodies as weapons that choke people, beat people, and so forth. They are trained to inflict harm, so the issue is about more than taking away their guns[.]”13
We also heard concerns that expanding the availability of less lethal weapons may impede efforts to get officers to use de-escalation techniques without weapons.
Police stops
Members of Black communities and community advocacy groups told the OHRC about TPS officers conducting unnecessary stops, questioning, and searches. Many told the OHRC about being randomly stopped on the street for no reason. Black individuals of all ages have been stopped during normal day-to-day activities, such as when walking on public streets, at work, with friends and family, and in front of their homes.
This is consistent with what we heard across the province in Under Suspicion: Research and consultation report on racial profiling in Ontario. We also heard many stories of unnecessary charges and arrests – some describing an “arrest-first”14 approach.
Concerns about unjust stops continue despite the enactment of Ontario Regulation 58/16: Collection of Identifying Information in Certain Circumstances – Prohibitions and Duties (O. Reg. 58/16) in 2017, which prohibited officers across the province from conducting arbitrary or random stops. The OHRC's consultations made it clear that these stops significantly impact members of Black communities and must be addressed. Street checks are addressed in Recommendation 14.
Accountability
The lack of accountability for racial profiling and racial discrimination was continually identified as a concern by Black communities. More specifically, the lack of accountability for fatal police shootings,15 excessive use of force, and other forms of misconduct have left some with the perception that accountability is an afterthought for front-line officers and oversight bodies, including the TPSB, courts, and tribunals.
For example, concerns were raised about the TPSB’s inability to get the TPS to comply with Board policy directives.16 Community members also raised concerns about the extent to which the TPSB has adopted and implemented recommendations from past reports and coroner’s inquests. In August 2020, for example, the Anti-Racism Advisory Panel (ARAP) recommended that the TPSB implement “a framework to monitor the implementation of the recommendations made by the jury in the inquest into the death of Andrew Loku” almost three years after the recommendations were released.17
Concerns about accountability and oversight were not limited to the TPSB:
We need a re-assessment of the policing apparatus. The police union and the board, the SIU – 98% of the cases absolve the police of any wrongdoing. It’s not just the boots on the ground. We need to look at all of that. Just dealing with the boots on the ground will not solve the problem.18
Diversity in employment and promotions
During consultations, the OHRC often heard that the TPS must reflect the diversity of the communities it serves to change or shift its culture of policing. People with lived experience of anti-Black racism can help improve internal processes and shift mindsets that have failed to address anti-Black racism and systemic racial bias in policing.
Participants emphasized that the TPS must consider diversity, demonstrated de-escalation skills, and combatting racism as criteria when assessing who should be promoted. This will help to create a more diverse workplace, including at the senior levels of policing, and help ingrain anti-racist principles throughout the TPS.
Rebuilding trust
Most people acknowledged that the TPS can make changes that could improve its relationship with Black communities. They identified revamping current police practices by eliminating the use of excessive force, and curtailing surveillance of marginalized communities, as steps in the right direction.19
Some people stated that addressing historical harm to Black communities must be part of the trust-building process. In this regard we heard that changes to current police practices cannot correct past harms, compensate victims of unjust stops and arrests,20 or bring back lives lost during fatal encounters with police. As such, measures to address systemic harm should consider restorative actions and advance overall well-being within Black communities.
They shared that the trauma associated with a negative interaction with the police has the potential to seriously disrupt several aspects of an individual’s life, including their education, employment, and personal relationships. Efforts to restore trust should consider issues beyond the traditional scope of police powers.
Some participants stated that the TPS has limited ability to provide full redress for the historical mistrust and the disparate outcomes that have burdened its relationship with Black communities.21 Accordingly, the TPS and TPSB should support restorative efforts led by non-police organizations.
To address the issues outlined in this section, Black communities called for a re-imagination of police services and public safety at all levels of the TPS and TPSB. Accordingly, police leadership, the TPA, and front-line officers must address the barriers – including police culture – without delay.
The communities' perspectives grounded the Inquiry’s report and helped to frame the recommendations to address anti-Black racism within the TPS.
Roundtable
In May 2022, the OHRC, TPS, and TPSB held a policy roundtable to discuss longstanding issues that have undermined Black communities’ relationships with the police, and to consider recommendations for change.
Participants included members of Black communities, government, academia, policing, and other stakeholders.
Issues explored included:
- discipline
- data collection
- training and education
- the nature and extent of discriminatory exercise of discretion and the role of Crown counsel
- use of force
- accountability, and
- enforcement mechanisms.
The OHRC also conducted follow-up interviews with some roundtable participants to gather additional information and perspectives.
Several themes arose from the roundtable that helped inform this report and the recommendations.
The need for greater transparency and community involvement in discipline
Roundtable participants expressed concerns regarding diminished public confidence in the police discipline processes, and made suggestions for reform. Participants also noted several factors that may have weakened public confidence in the police discipline system, including perceived negative treatment of Black complainants, long timelines, and police officers retiring before a final decision in a disciplinary matter is rendered.22
Participants suggested that it was important to find meaningful ways to inject community perspectives in the disciplinary process for formal and informal complaints.23 Involving Black communities at every stage of the discipline process was viewed as a necessary step for advancing public confidence – including the need to increase the level of community input for more complex or serious matters.
Community participants identified the TPSB’s ARAP as a good example of the police integrating the role of community perspectives when developing anti-racism initiatives.24 Police stakeholders identified the need for improved public communication on how the discipline process works.
Improving the system for individual officer discipline
Participants discussed the relationship between systemic discrimination and individual acts of discrimination. They noted that contemporary efforts to address systemic discrimination should acknowledge that systemic issues may relate to the discriminatory conduct of individuals. They also noted that systemic issues are often used an excuse to not address an individual officer’s discriminatory conduct.
Many expressed concern with the power imbalance in the disciplinary process. They felt it focuses too heavily on an officer’s perspective and safeguarding confidentiality at the expense of improving accountability and public confidence.25
In addition, members from Black communities emphasized the need for internal investigators to have increased training and education to identify and handle anti-Black racism complaints. To this end, it was suggested that investigators must be required to have the cultural competency to assess all relevant factors in racial discrimination complaints.26 As one policing representative noted, it is important to assess cultural competence “not just with front-line staff, but also upper ranks and the role of selecting leaders’ cultural relevance and appropriateness to lead an environment in a time of unrest.”27
Training is discussed further in Chapter 8.
Officer discipline is discussed further in Chapter 9.
Data collection, action, and accountability
During the roundtable session on race-based data collection, participants supported an expansion of current data collection efforts. They also emphasized that data collection must promote accountability and lead to tangible actions to address discrimination.
For example, multiple participants suggested that data could be used to proactively identify problems with an officer’s conduct rather than relying on complaints from the public.28 Another participant suggested that data, along with key performance indicators, could be used by the TPSB to measure the impact of reforms.29
Some participants warned that race-based data collection is not always neutral and can often be used to cause more harm to Black communities and not initiate any form of accountability.30
Roundtable participants also discussed legally binding consent decrees. A consent decree or consent order is an agreement between involved parties made legally enforceable by court order. Recently, consent decrees have been used by in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and various police services to allow the DOJ to oversee and resolve unconstitutional policing. As a part of this, consent decrees have been used in the United States as a vehicle to translate data collection into action.
Roundtable Keynote Speaker of Roy Austin,31 former Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, noted that consent decrees forced jurisdictions to collect data, leading “to a rapid decline of improper stop and searches,”32 which had mostly been happening in Black and Brown neighbourhoods.
This decline can be attributed to the work of the DOJ and other organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Association (ACLU) to limit the stops and searches. As Mr. Austin emphasized, consent decrees “…were making a difference. Making a difference on racialized stops. Making a difference on racialized searches.”33
Participants also recommended that the TPSB work with the Information and Privacy Commissioner to develop appropriate privacy guidelines for the collection, analysis, and public release of any race-based and human rights data.34
Finally, with respect to qualitative data, participants expressed concern about the role of community consultations in police reform projects. Community participants cited the long history of Black communities being “consulted to death” with little effective follow-up action.35 Considering this history, new efforts to consult with people from Black communities are often viewed as a performative exercise.
In short, participants stressed that consultations should not be used to gather community input and data in isolation. Public consultations must be tied to processes that will inform discipline and accountability initiatives.
Data collection and the OHRC’s corresponding recommendations are discussed at Chapter 9.
Cultural change in policing
One participant observed that systemic reform in the TPS and building Black communities’ trust in policing will require “a radical re-imagining on how we expect officers to conduct themselves in order to address anti-Blackness.”36
Most participants agreed that systemic reform must include a cultural shift in the role of policing itself. Throughout the sessions, participants emphasized that police leadership must demonstrate moral courage to address systemic anti-Black racism internally and within police service delivery if there is going to be meaningful change.
Neighbourhood policing
Neighbourhood policing programs were viewed by policing participants as a positive model for forming genuine relationships with communities. On the other hand, academic and community participants noted the model has been a contested concept.
Community participants expressed concerns about over-policing and stated that they would like to see less police presence in favour of other types of first responders or service providers. This is especially true for mental health issues, and wellness issues for unhoused persons.37
Consultation with TPS officers on anti-Black racism
It was important for the OHRC to hear from policing experts, leaders, and front-line officers during this Inquiry.
Police officers
The OHRC consulted with TPS leadership and representatives of the TPSB and Toronto Police Association (TPA), and conducted a survey of officers (below the rank of inspector). Each of these groups shared their perspective on how to address systemic discrimination in policing.
At the Inquiry’s launch in 2017, the OHRC reached out to officers through a public call, and again in March 2021 through a Service-wide communication facilitated by the TPS that was sent to all officers. The Service-wide communication advised that the OHRC was interested in officer feedback on topics including but not limited to: police culture, training, policies, procedures, accountability mechanisms relating to racial profiling and discrimination, and the relationship between the TPS and Black communities.
The OHRC interviewed two former and one current officer through the public call issued in 2017. Only five officers agreed to be interviewed or provided detailed feedback following the Service-wide communication in 2021.
Four of the five officers who participated in 2021 indicated deep concerns about the culture at the TPS. The officers shared that TPS culture has a firmly entrenched status quo that perpetuates racism and discrimination against non-White Service members, and a common practice of covering for the misconduct of fellow officers. Further, they felt that this culture resists any actions or attempts at change, including education, training, and increased diversity of Service members and leadership.
They also noted incidents and practices of anti-Black racism and racial discrimination that occur when providing police services, and a common practice of covering for the misconduct of fellow officers.
Interviews with members of the Black Internal Support Network (BISN)
The OHRC also interviewed seven uniform and civilian members of the BISN, an employee group of the TPS, to learn about their experiences of anti-Black racism within the TPS, police culture, training, policies, procedures, accountability mechanisms relating to racial profiling and discrimination, and the relationship between the TPS and Black communities.
Everyone interviewed discussed how TPS culture firmly entrenches a status quo that perpetuates racism and discrimination. Further, efforts to address racial discrimination, including education, training, and increasing the diversity of Service members and leadership, were met with resistance. One officer shared that some officers made light of training sessions on microaggressions and discrimination.
BISN members acknowledged the progress made by the TPS in addressing overt forms of anti-Black racism. For example, senior officers noted that incidents of explicit racial slurs and derogatory language that occurred in the 1990s would no longer be tolerated. Overt forms of racism are taken more seriously within the TPS and no longer occur regularly.38 One officer observed increased openness and sensitivity to marginalized community members.39
However, covert forms of anti-Black racism persist. BISN members said these are difficult to raise and challenge. One officer noted there is a “blue wall of silence” that prevents the TPS from substantively addressing race-related issues.40 Many felt complaints of anti-Black racism or racial profiling were not handled appropriately in the TPS, as there is a tendency to downplay concerns or suggest that issues raised by Black employees were not connected to racial bias.41
Members of the BISN told the OHRC that Black Service members were reluctant to raise issues of anti-Black racism because they have experienced denials, reprisal, or harassment when they did so. Members shared that they experienced increased monitoring and scrutiny when they raised concerns about racial discrimination in the workplace.
Uniformed and civilian members also shared their views on the impact of anti-Black racism on service delivery. They described the difficulty of building confidence in policing for Black communities and the historical nature of these concerns in general.
For example, one officer noted that incidents that occurred in the past have a bearing on current attitudes toward the police. The officer shared that early in his career, he was stopped at gunpoint by a White officer while on duty in plainclothes. He stated that it took him “years” before he could speak about it or raise the issue with management out of fear of not being believed.42
He said that the associated trauma of this and other incidents informed his experience as a Black officer and shapes Black communities’ perception of police services. Another officer stated:
Even I find myself shaking when I see [police] lights and I am an officer. We fear that we might have a negative interaction because of our skin colour. This is a daily dance for me that I think about a lot so I know exactlywhy the community is concerned.44
Black Service members expressed support for increasing mental health and social supports and advocating for more government funding for other non-police interventions. Most BISN members acknowledged how, in many ways, policing has failed Black communities, and understood how this history gives rise to calls for restructuring law enforcement and public safety services.
Officers and civilian employees also stated that beyond funding, the police must modernize by developing genuine relationships and “showing their value by working with and not telling people always what to do … finding out what the community needs truly are.”45
Uniform and civilian staff members of the BISN expressed serious concerns about increased scrutiny in the workplace, being subject to harsher forms of discipline compared to their non-Black counterparts, and being passed over for promotions. They also expressed concerns that their engagement with TPS leadership has not resulted in effective change.
In addition, the structures of police governance and police culture were identified as factors that inhibit organizational change. Most Service members described the strong adherence to seniority and obedience, which leaves little room for dissent due to fear of reprisal, harassment, or embarrassment. Individual BISN members also expressed scepticism about the TPA’s willingness to support Black Service members when issues regarding discrimination arise.
Survey
As part of the effort to ensure that the Inquiry included a broad range of policing, community safety, and well-being perspectives, the OHRC worked with the TPS and TPSB to conduct a confidential and voluntary online survey for TPS officers between October 12 and 26, 2022.
TPS uniform officers below the rank of inspector were invited to share their perspectives on issues of racism, particularly anti-Black racism, within the TPS and in officer interactions with civilians. The TPS distributed the survey via an “E-update” email and strongly encouraged participation.
The survey was sent to TPS officers and staff four months after the TPS confirmed that it continues to disproportionately use force and other enforcement actions against Black communities, based on its race-based data collection on use of force and strip searches.45
The OHRC analyzed 113 completed survey responses. An additional 152 survey responses were not analyzed because: 11 respondents declined to provide their consent for the OHRC to collect their survey responses, 110 respondents declined to provide name or badge number to participate in the survey, and 31 respondents were not uniform officers below the rank of inspector.
The findings provide a glimpse of some officers’ perception of anti-Black racism within the organization and in service delivery to the public. However, the results are not a representative sample of TPS officers' and civilian staff's views. In other words, the survey results reflect the views of the officers who responded and should not be generalized to all uniform officers. Nonetheless, evaluating the survey results along with the interviews with officers and BISN members provides insight on some Service members’ views about anti-Black racism in the TPS.
Of the survey participants:
- 26% agreed or strongly agreed that there is systemic anti-Black racism in Toronto policing services.
- 62% did not know if systemic anti-Black racism is present in Toronto policing services.
- 66% did not know if there is systemic anti-Black racism in employment at the TPS.
- 77% strongly or somewhat agreed that they were satisfied with TPS and TPSB’s efforts to address anti-Black racism in policing services.
- 66% strongly or somewhat agreed that they are satisfied with TPS and TPSB’s efforts to address anti-Black racism in employment.
In written comments, several respondents indicated that they found existing training to be excessive and unhelpful. Some respondents indicated that bias and racism do not exist in the TPS, and they did not change their behaviour on duty in response to training because they do not treat people with bias. “Repeatedly being told your organization is racist, when it is not, is insulting and it begins to have the opposite effect intended.” (male constable, age 36-40)
The TPS officer survey questions are presented in Appendix 11.
Chapter 4 Endnotes
[1] Within the current discourse on police reform, defunding and de-tasking have occasionally been used interchangeably. However, defunding refers to the reduction or elimination of police budgets.
[2] Sarah Tran, “Detasking police and restructuring community safety – Professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah featured in discussion about police and public safety on The Agenda,” University of Toronto Department of Sociology News, online: University of Toronto https://www.sociology.utoronto.ca/news/de-tasking-police-and-restructuring-community-safety-professor-akwasi-owusu-bempah-featured. Board of the Police Commissioner’s Subcommittee to Define Defunding Police, Defunding the police: Defining the way forward for Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), online: (pdf): Halifax https://cdn.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/boards-committees-commissions/220117bopc1021.pdf.
[3] OHRC interview with BISN member (27 July 2022).
[4] Interview with Anthony Morgan, Manager, Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit, City of Toronto (28 September 2022).
[5] OHRC interview with Black Femme Legal, Samantha Pieters (18 June 2021).
[6] OHRC interview with Sam Tecle (20 November 2020).
[7] According to Justice Iacobucci, the term “in crisis” refers to a person “whose behaviour brings them into contact with police either because of an apparent need for urgent care within the mental health system, or because they are otherwise experiencing a mental or emotional crisis involving behaviour that is sufficiently erratic, threatening or dangerous that the police are called in order to protect the person or those around them.” See: Iacobucci, Police Encounters with People in Crisis (2014), at 4, para 2; Gerry McNeilly, Police Interactions with People in Crisis and Use of Force: OIPRD Systemic Review Interim Report (2017), at 4.
[8] OHRC telephone consultation with Across Boundaries (15 December 2020).
[9 Albert Johnson, 35, was shot and killed in his apartment by two Toronto Police officers in 1979. The officers were both charged with manslaughter but were acquitted in November 1980. OHRC, Timeline of racial discrimination and racial profiling of Black persons by the Toronto Police Service, and OHRC initiatives related to the Toronto Police, online: OHRC www.ohrc.on.ca/en/book/export/html/23851.
[10] Lester Donaldson, 44, was shot and killed in his rooming house by a Toronto Police officer in 1988. The police said they were responding to a call about a man holding hostages but found Donaldson alone in his room. He was shot for allegedly lunging at the officer with a knife. The officer was charged with manslaughter but was later acquitted. OHRC, Timeline of racial discrimination and racial profiling of Black persons by the Toronto Police Service, and OHRC initiatives related to the Toronto Police, online: OHRC www.ohrc.on.ca/en/book/export/html/23851.
[11] Andrew Loku was shot and killed by a Toronto Police officer in 2015. Loku was shot in the hallway of his residential building, after he was confronted by officers. Loku was holding a hammer at the time. The apartment complex Loku lived in was affiliated with the Canadian Mental Health Association. See: Special Investigations Unit, News Release (18 March 2016) https://www.siu.on.ca/en/news_template.php?nrid=2578; Canadian Mental Health Association, Andrew Loku Inquest, Online: https://toronto.cmha.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ANDREW-LOKU.pdf
[12] Shanif Nasser, “A Young Black man was fatally tasered in his own backyard – now his family is demanding answers,” CBC News (21 June 2020), online: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/clive-mensah-black-taser-police-1.5655022.
[13] OHRC consultation with Across Boundaries (15 December 2020).
[14] An arrest-first approach includes arresting a civilian first and attempting to determine if there are grounds for the arrest later.
[15] During our consultations, stakeholders regularly recalled the fatal shooting of Andrew Loku. The officer who shot Loku was cleared of any charges by the Special Investigations Unit in 2016. Special Investigations Unit, News Release (18 March 2016) https://www.siu.on.ca/en/news_template.php?nrid=2578
[16] “Under the Police Services Act in Ontario, policies are made by the police service boards (as overreaching direction to the Chief of Police), while procedures are issued by the chief or commissioner of the OPP (as operational orders to all the members of a police service) – Failure to abide by these policies and procedures can be the subject of misconduct proceedings.” See Lorne foster et al. Racial Profiling and Human Rights in Canada: The New Legal Landscape, Irwin Law 2018. At 109.
[17] Anti-Racism Advisory Panel, TPSB Online: https://www.tpsb.ca/advisory-panels/24-panels-and-committees/94-arap.
[18] OHRC consultation with the Zero Gun Violence Movement, Louis March (29 December 2020).
[19] OHRC consultation with Jane Finch Action Against Poverty (20 November 2020).
[20] “With the growing demand for Ontarians to undergo police record checks in order to be considered for employment, volunteer, housing, insurance and academic opportunities, concerns about the negative impacts of non-conviction police records are mounting. Thousands of Ontarians have police records – that they are often unaware of – that could be disclosed on police record checks. A recent report by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association puts the number of Canadians with a police record as high as one in three. Marginalized populations such as those with mental health issues, homeless populations, racialized populations, and those with developmental disabilities come into disproportionate contact with police and are therefore more likely to have a police record.” John Howard Society of Ontario and the Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation, On the Record: An Information Guide for People Impacted by Non-Conviction Police Records in Ontario (October 2014) online at http://www.johnhoward.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/On-the-Record-1-FINAL.pdf, at page 6.
[21] For example, the Police Services Act does not explicitly speak to providing social services and other community based-supports that may be required to address social barriers created by police misconduct or racial bias.
[22] OHRC policy roundtable, Session 1 (30 May 2022).
[23] A formal complaint generally refers to a member of the public filing a complaint with a police oversight body, such as the OIPRD. Informal complaints refer to instances where a member of the public expressed concerns to a police oversight body without filing a complaint.
[24] For an overview of the Anti-Racism Advisory Panel, see Chapter 9.
[25] OHRC policy roundtable, Session 1 (30 May 2022).
[26] OHRC policy roundtable, Session 1 (30 May 2022).
[27] OHRC policy roundtable participant, Session 3 (30 May 2022).
[28] OHRC policy roundtable, Session 1 (30 May, 2022).
[29] OHRC policy roundtable, Session 3 (30 May, 2022).
[30] OHRC policy roundtable, Session 5 (31 May 2022).
[31] Mr. Austin was also White House Deputy Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs, Justice and Opportunity. In this position, he co-authored a report on Big Data and Civil Rights, worked with the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. and helped develop the Police Data Initiative.
[32] Roy Austin, OHRC policy roundtable, Session 4 (31 May 2022).
[33] Roy Austin, OHRC policy roundtable, Session 4 (31 May 2022).
[34] OHRC policy roundtable participant, Session 5 (31 May 2022).
[35] OHRC policy roundtable participant, Session 3 (30 May 2022).
[36] OHRC policy roundtable participant, Sessions 6 and 7 (31 May 2022).
[37] OHRC policy roundtable participant, Session 1 (30 May 2022).
[38] OHRC consultation with BISN member (September 6, 2022).
[39] OHRC consultation with BISN member (September 6, 2022).
[40] OHRC consultation with BISN member (July 27, 2022).
[41] OHRC consultation with BISN member (6 September 2022).
[42] OHRC consultation with BISN member (6 September 2022).
[43] OHRC consultation with BISN member (27 July 2022).
[44] OHRC consultation with BISN member (2022).
[45] TPS, Race & Identity Based Data Collection Strategy, Understanding Use of Force & Stop Searches in 2020 Detailed Report. June 2022 Online: https://www.tps.ca/media/filer_public/93/04/93040d36-3c23-494c-b88b-d60e3655e88b/98ccfdad-fe36-4ea5-a54c-d610a1c5a5a1.pdf;Samantha Beattie, “Toronto Police Continue To Disproportionately Shoot, Kill And Use Force On Black People: Report” Huffington Post (10 December, 2018) online: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/toronto-police-anti-black-racism_ca_5cd57ce9e4b07bc729788862.