Toronto police used the use of force disproportionately against Black and Indigenous people in 2020, a report released Wednesday morning by the police service reveals. Black people are 230% more likely to have a gun pointed at them when they appear unarmed than white people.
Toronto Police Chief James Ramer issued an apology to the black community on Wednesday.
“The results confirm what Black and Indigenous people have been telling us for decades: that they are being overwatched by police. »
The Ontario government had asked police services in the province to collect this data in 2019. Under the Anti-Racism Act, which was passed in 2017, this type of data collection in the justice sector and education was mandated by the province. Toronto Police began collecting data in 2020.
The report could rekindle the movement to defund the police in Toronto. James Ramer’s predecessor, Mark Saunders, tendered his resignation in 2020 amid a summer of anti-racism protests in response to the death of George Floyd.
In an interview with the CP 24 network in the morning, the mayor of Toronto, John Tory, declared that the data showed that the situation was “unacceptable” in Toronto.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.
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