Investigating Police Racism in Toronto: A Social Justice Issue

What is the social problem that you will be researching

•    What is the social problem that you will be researching (i.e. your topic includes a clear description) The social problem being researched is police racism in Toronto. Racism is discrimination or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized. In Toronto police use force against blacks, indigenous people and other minorities and due to this Black lives matter-Toronto took on the movement to resist police killings and the abuse of black lives. Moreover, according to the data from Ontario Human Right Commission black Toronto residents are more likely to be shot and killed by the police than black Americans. (Ontario Human Right 2017). As a social justice issue police racism needs social action. “little Canadian social work research has been conducted on police racial profiling and professional social work bodies have remained silent about ending this discriminatory practice” (Journal of human rights & social work, 2020).

•    What do you and your group currently know about this topic? Police racism is very well-known and is broadly drilled in Toronto. Charges of racial profiling have been around for quite a long time and still are a subject that makes a ton on media publicity and debate encompassing police Black people are multiple times bound to be captured than White or other minority individuals. In Toronto, there have been various paper and TV articles blaming the Toronto Police Service for foundational prejudice and racial profiling (Canadian Race Relations Foundations, 2005). Alongside the media articles, there have been objections documented to the Ontario Human Rights Commission denouncing the Toronto Police Service and its individuals from racial profiling (The Law Society of Upper Canada, 2009). Racial profiling exists on an individual premise inside the Toronto Police Service.

•    Why does this problem concern you and your group? Regarding the issue of police racism in Canada, as an international student, the information I know is very limited, because racism may be a historical issue. Although I can find a lot of information on the Internet, I cannot prove the accuracy of the information, so I will cite some examples are things that happened between me and my friends, or problems that Asians will realize. The Canadian police racism in the impression of the Chinese is reflected in the police's view of the Chinese. Some police officers think that most Chinese are rich, have limited knowledge of local laws, like to show off their assets, and even some Chinese behave rudely.

What do you and your group currently know about this topic

My friends went to Montreal once this year. They encountered a very interesting thing on the way to Montreal. One of them was punished by the traffic police because he drove at 130km/h and exceeded the road speed limit of 120km/h. Got a ticket. This is a very reasonable thing, but on the way back, another friend of mine received another ticket, and the traffic police gave the reason for driving too slowly on the highway. When I heard them talk about it, I found it very funny, even if he would not exceed the speed limit, he would never drive on a highway at a speed lower than 100km/h. Whether it's because of my friend's ignorance of Montreal law or other reasons, he will go to court next month to fight a lawsuit.

For me, I also experienced an incident that might be racism. Just last month, a shop owned by my aunt was ransacked by a thief. Through surveillance, we can tell that she is a tall local. Although my aunt told the police when she found out, their attitude was very disappointing. We made a call to the police in the morning. Although they said they would send someone to investigate, we still waited until 8pm before two police officers came to the store. They simply learned the information and made a transcript. Before they left, I I clearly remember that they said, "may give us feedback."

I don't know if all police officers deal with theft in this way, but we don't feel any comfort. As a bystander, I have my own views, but these things can be considered racism, I think at least they did not respect us very much. In China, we may also have conflicts with people of different races, but we are all equal in law. Now, according to the information I have learned, some Chinese people passively accept theft and robbery because they know that the police cannot solve their problems. Whether the police can't protect us or whether their attitude towards people of other races is negative is the question that puzzles me.
Dhimitra Zenelak (300975834)

•    How does this problem relate to your personal or professional life? The problem of racism can be linked with a simple neglect by a group of people due to their race, color or gender. Racism can be of any form depending upon the mentality of the individuals.  For example, between 2013 and 2017, a report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) stated that the imprisonment of Black people is more likely to take place than the other groups. Black people's contribution to the Toronto population is only 8.8 percent still they are detained in more than 30 percent of police cases by the Toronto Police Service (TPS) (Carter, 2020; Nickle & Kurek, 2020).  The problem of racism by Toronto police is decades old. A few months back, a black woman got killed by Toronto police in New Brunswick while having a wellness check (Cecco, 2020).  

Why does this problem concern you and your group

The racism by police leads to a way that affects my belief in police administration. In my personal life, I have experienced racial biases between white and black people. The arrest of my black friend due to the false allegation of a violent crime, which took him more than three weeks for a bail whereas in a similar case of violence done by a white citizen, got him an early bail having a privilege of being white. Being in the same group of friends this incident affects us all. This incident struck my friend's mental status. The stress showed an impact on his academic achievements and his involvement in our group activity for which we all felt very bad for him. We tried our best to motivate him in which we got success after a few days. This incident showed me the dark side of administration.  The mentality of white supremacy cannot be denied by anyone.

Similarly, in professional life, I have seen the real and direct consequence of racial profiling (Meng, Giwa, & Anucha, 2015). The police clearance certificate for a black friend having all the documents cost him in losing a job in another country. The resubmission of documents again and its clarification took time and result in a job loss. The loss of a job creates a problem for a friend in the financial aspect, which leads to further issues in his life. Considering the problem, we launched a protest along with other groups for the unjustified and inappropriate decision making by the authorities. The administration was not even felt guilty in starting but the pressure from protest made them write an apology to the student.

CCTV footage of a police officer in Alberta showing him forcing a black man to be ground and punched him in the head left me outraged and my anger went towards the police authority to a new level (Cecco, 2020). We believe that racism in any form is highly disturbing. The problem needs to be encounter on an urgent basis. The Black life movement has shown us the deep-rooted racism problem that the Black people faced over the years and decades. They are Black and Black life matters in every case. Other than this, I have also experienced and the issue of gender inequality in Toronto police station, where the male officers were dominating the station as compared to the female police officers.

•    What questions do you and your group have about this problem? Why the police are free to stop and arrest a black individual so easily and what are the basic rights of an individual to take action against police and its brutality?
How police view an individual who faces the problem of racism? How do they explain their view to their supervisor when an officer committed the unethical activity of being discriminatory towards other communities? Why white privileges still dominate in the police administration and what Toronto police have done to minimize its effect on their work? Why few people easily got away from the police and judicial authorities while Canada is a democratic country and law is equal for everyone?

What are the lists of actions the police take when some civilians commit the crime of discrimination again and again? What types of reform are being adopted to combat systemic racism and how they are moving in the direction to have a human-right based approach? What type of steps the superior authority of police admiration is taking to tackle the issue of racism on the ground as well as on the personal level of the police officers? How the Toronto Police Authority resolves the issue of gender biases in promotions and posting within the office?