Toronto Police Chief James Ramer has apologized to Black, Indigenous, and racialized people in Toronto today as the force released race-based data on the use of force and strip searches.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI am sorry, and I apologize unreservedly that the release of this data will cause pain for many,\u201d Ramer said at a news conference.<\/p>\n

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The released statistics show that Black people in Toronto have faced an excessive amount of police enforcement and use of force in 2020.<\/p>\n

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The statistics also revealed that Black residents were 230 per cent more likely to have an officer pointing a gun at them than white people, regardless of being armed or not.<\/p>\n

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The statistics have also shown differences in enforcement, use of force, and strip searches among other racialized groups, including Middle Eastern, Latino, and East and Southeast Asian groups.<\/p>\n

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Middle Eastern people were overrepresented when it came to enforcement and use of force in 2020.<\/p>\n

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Latino and East and Southeast Asian groups experienced more use of force when interacting with police in Toronto.<\/p>\n

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Indigenous people, however, experienced more enforcement and less use of force in the more than 86,500 Toronto police interactions that have been reviewed.<\/p>\n

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Ramer said Toronto police should do more to stop any racially biased policing practices in Toronto and that the data reflects the \u201cunfortunate\u201d experiences that people of colour had to endure.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis data demonstrates the unfortunate realities of those experiences,\u201d he said. \u201cAs an organization, we have not done enough to ensure that every person in our city receives fair and unbiased policing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ramer said Toronto police will continue their efforts to end systematic racism and discrimination that has led to \u201cdifferential treatment by our service.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe recognize that it is essential to identifying ways to reduce and eliminate disparities measure and evaluate improvement and continually look for ways to live up to the goal of equitable policing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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The apology has been described by Beverly Bain, from the group No Pride in Policing, as a \u201cpublic relations stunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cChief Ramer, we do not accept your apology,\u201d Bain said during the news conference.<\/p>\n

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Executive director of Peacebuilders Canada Marlon Merraro said the Black community in Toronto has not been asking for an apology and that stopping violence and the racist, oppressive action of the police service should have been the priority.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy initial reaction was anger because we did not ask for an apology,\u201d Merraro said. \u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to come to hear the apology when we\u2019ve been denied, not believed, ostracized, penalized for telling the stories that we\u2019ve experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He said holding police accountable by applying the proper mechanisms and policies that ensure no violations go without penalty should be one of the top priorities.<\/p>\n

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\u201cChief Ramer talked about a lot of mechanisms already existing, but what he failed to tell us was if those mechanisms were working, and obviously they are not working,\u201d Merraro said.<\/p>\n

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He said Toronto Police are not serious enough in their endeavour to end systemic racism in policing in Toronto.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHaving an apology would never be your first step,\u201d Merraro said. \u201cIf you\u2019re serious talking them up, being accountable should be your first step.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto Police Chief James Ramer has apologized to Black, Indigenous, and racialized people in Toronto today as the force released race-based data on the use of force and strip searches.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n