Deem Indigenous policing essential, boost support for Northern communities to help scrap racism in policing, committee hears
Demilitarize the police, defund or divert their resources, adopt nationwide data collection to track race and use of force, adopt true and transparent civilian oversight, and make Indigenous policing an essential service. These are just some of the calls to action repeatedly raised by witnesses during last week’s parliamentary study on systemic racism and policing […]
There couldn’t be a better time than now to cancel the Safe Third Country Agreement
It’s not often that a major court decision about a highly politicized topic turns out to be a gift to both the Liberals and the Conservatives. The trouble is that it is a gift in disguise and that neither party seems to know it. That was the case when Federal Court Judge Ann Marie McDonald […]
Where are the alarm bells after the armed incursion at the PM’s residence?
OTTAWA—Maybe it’s because of the COVID-19 emergency or summertime or the lack of information supplied by the RCMP, but the magnitude of the Corey Hurren episode on July 2 appears to have been overlooked. Hurren, a heavily armed 46-year-old Canadian Armed Forces reservist from Manitoba, was arrested by police after crashing through the Rideau Hall […]
RCMP report 62 per cent uptick in mental health, wellness call response as critics demand better data
The RCMP have seen a 62 per cent increase in mental health and well-being calls over the last five years—worrying but incomplete results that have critics demanding better data and redoubling calls for an inquiry into police-involved deaths for those in crisis. In 2019, the RCMP responded to 149,986 mental health and well-being checks, up […]
Race-based reporting for crime data could become mandatory for police, says cop, as group eyes boosting efforts by 2021
Six years after police in Canada began reporting the Indigenous identity for victims and people accused of homicides to the country’s statistics agency, some officers are hoping to get buy-in from their colleagues to similarly enhance crime data on a wider scale by early next year. But beefing up efforts to collect such race-based data […]
Rideau Hall rampage could have ended very differently
OTTAWA—In the early hours of Thursday, July 2, there was a bizarre incident in the nation’s capital. A pickup truck smashed through the security gates at Rideau Hall. The impact disabled the vehicle and the driver continued his intrusion on foot. The RCMP confronted the man, and after a 90-minute negotiation, 46-year-old Corey Hurren was […]
Poor data, deficiencies in case management to blame for slow pace in enforcing deportation orders, says auditor general
A federal audit into deportation proceedings released Wednesday says that Canada’s border patrol agency failed to enforce orders for a majority of individuals who had been flagged by the system for “removal.” The auditor general attributed poor data quality, deficiencies in case management, and lack of follow through on investigating “wanted cases”—individuals with deportation orders […]
More questions than answers on the Rideau Hall ‘incident’
In the wake of a strange Canada Day 2020—thanks COVID-19!—we did have some excitement this year, just not what we wanted or expected. On July 2 a man from western Manitoba drove a truck through the locked gates of Rideau Hall, exited his vehicle and wandered around a bit, and eventually holed up in a […]
Feds’ policing reforms should respect self-governance of Indigenous people, say experts, Parliamentarians, in wake of deadly, violent run-ins with police
As the government works toward a new legislative framework aimed at improving the relationship between police and Indigenous people, some Parliamentarians and Indigenous experts say reforms should be rooted in self-determination, greater autonomy, and self-governance. Such changes could better reflect Ottawa’s commitment to reconciliation and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, […]
Dafonte Miller case another shocking wake-up call for police reform
OTTAWA—It took Ontario Superior Court Justice Joseph Di Luca four-and-a-half hours’ worth of rationalization to conclude in his judgment that the white off-duty cop and his brother who beat up Dafonte Miller, who lost an eye as a result, didn’t commit much in the way of crimes. The judge said Toronto police Const. Michael Theriault’s […]
