Posted16 June 2022, 00:57
A study conducted since 2020 showed that black citizens in Toronto, 8.8% of the city’s 6 million people, experience excessive use of force.
A mural honoring George Floyd, who was murdered by US police in May 2020, in a Toronto neighborhood.
AFP
The Toronto police chief on Wednesday apologized to black and indigenous people in the Canadian metropolis, victims of excessive use of force according to a study carried out in recent years.
The data “confirms what, for many decades, Black and Indigenous communities have told us that they are disproportionately policed,” said Toronto Police Chief James Ramer. “For this, as Chief of Police and on behalf of the service, I am sorry and apologize unreservedly,” he added. Referring to “systemic racism”, he acknowledged that confrontations with the authorities could have “a profound impact” on people’s lives and diminish their confidence in the police.
20 times more likely to be shot by the police
In 2020, police officers in the province of Ontario collected ethnic data on the people on whom they used physical force or a weapon. The move comes after a human rights commission found that black people, who make up 8.8% of Toronto’s six million people, are approximately 20 times more likely to be shot by police. of the city than white people.
The year 2020 is when George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in the US state of Minnesota, sparking a wave of anger and protests across the continent. “We will do everything possible to repair this damage,” assured James Ramer. But during the conference, activist Beverly Bain of the “No Pride in Policing” collective brushed off her apology.
“We don’t accept your apologies,” she said, while renewing her request to no longer subsidize the police. “We asked you to stop being brutal, to stop killing us, to stop bugging us, to stop continually stopping us and harassing our children, our black boys and our black girls”, she recalled. “What we got instead was an even bigger police force.”
(AFP)