Ontario’s police watchdog agency says it will start collecting data on the race of people who are seriously injured or killed in interactions with police, a move already undertaken by its counterpart in British Columbia.
On Thursday, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the first civilian agency in the country to probe police incidents involving serious injury, death or sexual assault, announced it was authorized by the province in April to collect data on the ethnicity and religious background of complainants and officers. The agency, formed in 1990, will begin recording the information in October and make it public so possible racial disparities in accessing justice may be identified, spokeswoman Monica Hudon said in an e-mail.
B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office (IIO), which was modelled on the SIU and began operating in 2012, said it has been taking a similar approach since April.
“This would be an important trend if one identifiable community is being disproportionately impacted by serious harm and death cases,” Ronald MacDonald, the IIO’s chief civilian director, said in an interview on Thursday. “I think that’s important for us to know.”
The policy changes were made amid criticism that, without such data, it’s impossible to determine whether people of colour are disproportionately affected in interactions with police.
Mr. MacDonald encouraged other agencies to take similar steps. “It needs to be more widely done in my view,” he said.
As protests against use of force by police on people of colour roil the United States, Indigenous leaders and activists have called attention to Canada’s record on policing. Over the past two weeks, two RCMP officers Alberta were charged in a fatal 2018 shooting, and three RCMP members faced charges in a 2016 arrest; Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation alleged RCMP beat him and accosted his wife in March; and a B.C. Indigenous woman was shot to death in Edmunston, N.B., during a police wellness check.
The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner – a B.C. agency that monitors police conduct, but not to the criminal standard of the IIO – has been collecting race-based data since 2017. It asks complainants to voluntarily provide information on age, gender and race or ethnicity.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), an arms-length agency that investigates after someone is killed or seriously injured by police, does not track race or ethnicity “unless it plays a role in any given incident,” executive director Susan Hughson said on Tuesday.
“The difficulty with race is I don’t believe it is appropriate to speculate or assume and some people do not want that to be part of the equation,” Ms. Hughson said in an interview.
On Thursday, an ASIRT spokesperson said the organization will respond soon on whether it will implement a wider system for tracking ethnicity.
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart called on B.C. Premier John Horgan to conduct a comprehensive review of policing in the province, looking at such issues as systemic racism and disproportional violence experienced by Black and Indigenous people, ending discriminatory police checks, and policies relevant to body-worn cameras.
In a news conference, Mr. Stewart also said he would like a look at how to better balance spending on safety, criminal justice and policing with investment in more community-based approaches to mental health, youth outreach, poverty and homelessness.
B.C. Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth said that when the legislature resumes this month, he will table a motion to strike an all-party committee to engage with communities and experts on how to modernize the provincial Police Act.
“I will look forward to receiving their recommendations,” Mr. Farnworth said in a statement.
Adam Palmer, chief constable of the Vancouver Police Department, said his department will participate fully in any review.
Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson this week proposed cancelling the police budget’s annual increase for population growth and inflation in 2021 as part of a motion requesting analysis of policing practices and alternatives, and clarity from the province on the rules for street checks and carding.
Mr. Iveson said he expects the rules will need to be tightened.
Indigenous and Métis people were four times more likely than white people to be street checked in Alberta’s capital between 2012 and 2016, according to a 2018 report from the Edmonton Police Commission.
Dale McFee, the chief of the Edmonton Police Service, defended the force’s record in a presentation to council. He said it has made changes including “extensive training” for recruits and officers, oversight of data for auditing and transparency, and auditing of a random 190 files twice a year.
With files from Carrie Tait
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