TORONTO – A recently published report from Toronto Police Services revealed what many people already knew, Toronto police target Black people. The report included devastating statistics that only further proved what activists have been saying for decades, the racism that Black Torontonians face at the hands of police is dangerous and deadly.
The report features several key findings, including:
Black people were five times more likely than white people to face police force
Black people were more than twice as likely as white people to have a firearm pulled on them by police when the officer believed they were unarmed
Black and Indigenous people who were in crisis were almost twice as likely to be subjected to force by police
Almost ⅓ of Indigenous people who were arrested were subjected to a strip-search
On June 15th Toronto police chief James Ramer issued a formal apology, but for many, it’s not enough.
“Tell us how you’re going to stop the violence against us? You haven’t told us how you’re going to stop the killing of our people. You have not said how we can be sure that we can walk the streets safely and not be stopped. So, Chief Ramer, we do not accept your apology,” said Professor Beverly Bain during a press conference hosted by Toronto police.
People online were visibly upset with both the apology and the report.
“An apology doesn’t mean shit if they don’t implement change!!!!!” said one person on Instagram.
“Well, I made the comment before the chief could spit out his findings and useless apology….WE DON’T ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY. WE DON’T WANT IT. and check other regions while reading over the analysis you will see the numbers are the same or higher. This is decades of ill-treatment from the police… I just want to know WHY NOW COME OUT WITH THIS BS…WHY NOW?” said another.
“I am not surprised and an apology without change means nothing. This is not news to BLACK people, this is what we live, and this is what we have been saying for yearsssss. To me, this news is for all the people who never believe it when we were saying it because our words and lived experiences mean nothing to a lot of people,” added someone else.
While this is the first time that Toronto police have released data of this nature, the Ontario Human Rights Commission published a report in 2020 which found that Black people are more likely to be arrested, charged, over-charged, struck, shot, or killed by the Toronto police.
“Another important acknowledgment made by the police, based on its analysis, is a fact also well known to Black communities: even accounting for any differences in levels of police interactions across racial groups, Black community members are still disproportionately the victims of use of force,” reads a statement from the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
Brandon and Dev broke down the report, the apology, and the response from the community this week on News You Can Use.
