Can we still have Faith in the Police?

Not my image.

In the past I've been a staunch supporter of the police. I believed they impartially upheld the law and did no wrong. But since the events of the G20 meeting here in Toronto I've started to have my doubts. To me, it seems as if police have abused their powers in either assaulting people or unjustly detaining them.

And, of course, there are the stories from the U.S.. In Ferguson, Missouri unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by white police officer, Darren Wilson; and, in Staten Island, unarmed black man, Eric Garner, was choked to death by another white officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who was attempting to arrest him. Neither officer was even indicted for their actions. A true miscarriage of justice as far as I and many, many others are concerned.

Racism is alive and well in the United States.

And it is here too.

As I was making deliveries this past Monday I was listening to Ontario Today on CBC Radio 1. Their topic of discussion was racial profiling by Toronto Police. It's incredible how racist some of them are. Young, black males are constantly being stopped and harassed while minding their own business and not causing any trouble at all. This is a clear violation of their Charter of Rights and Freedoms*.

Caller after caller told their stories of being unjustly stopped and questioned while doing things like getting food from a restaurant drive-through, walking home from playing basketball after school or just driving around with friends.

Even the show's guest Osgoode law student and activist, Knia Singh, found, through a freedom of information request, that the police had a file on him of his "incidents" with them. He has never been arrested or even charged yet the police had a 57-page file on him.

It was filled with comments and descriptions that were either fabricated or just plain wrong. They were about such as things as having an immigration warrant against him (Singh was born in Canada) and, in two documents, it said he was born in Jamaica (he says he's never had a conversation with the police about his birthplace). It's absolutely ludicrous.

The stories related in this one hour program showed an incredible bias against blacks by the police. The Toronto Star did a Freedom of Information request where they got 6 years of police analysis. It showed that race, age and gender were big factors in who gets stopped by them. Black males between the ages of 15-24 were stopped 2.5 times more than their white counterparts.

It leaves me questioning the process officers go through when getting hired. Are they making sure they hire people who are of sound moral character? Who are not discriminatory against minorities or people of different sexual orientation or anything else? Are they hiring both men and women who are from a variety of ethnic backgrounds? It seems, more and more to me, that the police force is turning into a good ol' boys club of rednecks from back in the day.

It's sad. I certainly hope things change. And soon.

_________________________________________

CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982 (80)

PART I

CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:

Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms

Legal Rights

Life, liberty and security of person

7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

Search or seizure

8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.

Detention or imprisonment

9. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.

Arrest or detention

10. Everyone has the right on arrest or detention
(a) to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;
(b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right; and
(c) to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.

Lost

Police headquarters.

So we did another Sandwich Run yesterday. I'm not sure where the group was from, but they were late. We were supposed to meet at the back of Knox at 2:30 p.m. Lilian, Tim and I called them, perhaps, at 2:45 and they were still on the Gardiner Expressway somewhere stuck in traffic.

Even though it was a Saturday, traffic downtown can still be both painfully and unpredictably slow. Not only that, after exiting the Gardiner, they had to wind their way up Spadina. Another headache. Eventually they arrived by, let's say, 3:15; 45 minutes late. Normally I wouldn't have cared too much, but I had to meet my father for dinner, so I was on a somewhat tight deadline.

Tim did the orientation. Only five of the 14 young attendees had gone before so he was got quite in depth. Tim likes talking and may have been unaware that I was in a hurry (especially since we were already behind schedule). I was kind of anxious to get rolling, but what can you do?

We split into three smaller groups after Tim finished speaking. Lilian and Tim each took five people and I took four. Tim was going to do his regular Spadian/Queen route; I was going to do my now regular College to Allan Gardens/Seaton House route; and Lilian was going to go across Gerrard and down Yonge with us all converging at the Tim Hortons near Ryerson at Yonge and Dundas.

My group and Lilian's started off the same way going south on Spadina, then heading east on College. Her group took the north side of College, mine the south. We met up at the Salvation Army Hope Shelter at McCaul and College looking to give out some bag lunches, but there weren't many guys out. It was at that point we parted ways with my group continuing east on College and hers going south on McCaul.

Now, I have to say, our group didn't get very far. Shortly after crossing University Avenue we noticed an elderly lady walking in front of the MaRS building wearing only a light T-shirt, pants and fuzzy, white slippers. This might not have raised eyebrows in the middle of summer, but this was the first week of November and it was quite chilly outside. The high was no more than 10C and it was dropping as the daylight quickly faded.

I asked her if she wanted a bag lunch. She mentioned that she had dementia and was lost and couldn't remember where she lived. She had gone out to get something (I can't remember what now and I don't think she did either) and now was just wandering the streets trying to find her way home.

It was at that moment that I figured we'd better put the Sandwich Run on hold and get her some help. Fortunately we were only a block or so from Police Headquarters on College and Bay. So we put a too small hoodie on her that the young folks brought along to give to someone who might need it, gave her a box drink and headed over there. Slowly. Wilhelmina (I think that was her name) wasn't a very fast walker being elderly and walking in fuzzy, white slippers which fell off a number of times.

As we neared the building the young, female officer at the duty desk came out to help us into the lobby. While there we tried to find out more information that would give us a clue to where Wilhelmina lived. She mentioned she lived on her own. We also found a MedicAlert bracelet on her with her name and an I.D. number.

After a bit of detective work the officer found out where she lived. She contacted some other officers to come pick her up and drive her home. We decided to wait with Wilhelmina to keep her company since there was no one else around. She was still a bit confused and we didn't want her to become anxious or anything like that. While there she kept trying to give her Parker pen away (numerous times) because she didn't realize it was hers.

A couple of the young volunteers sang some gospel songs that they liked for her. It was a funny scene being in the towering lobby of the headquarters with singing like that.

Now, of course, since it wasn't an emergency the officers who were called to take her home took a long time. I had planned to be at my parents' place to pick up my dad to go eat for his birthday between 5:30 and 6:00. It was already after 5:00.

I got in contact with Lilian who was nearing the completion of her route and she sent Tim up to take over for me. His group got to Police Headquarters by around 5:30 p.m.

At that point we had to say, good-bye, to Wilhelmina. I hope she was okay waiting on her own. Tim took my group (who still had all their bag lunches) straight down Yonge towards the Timmies. They would hand them out to whoever they saw along the way. Any extras, I assume Tim and Lilian would take over to Seaton House on their own.

I ran back to my car which was parked at church and hurried as best I could to my parents' place. Traffic on the Don Valley Parkway was terrible and I arrived at 6:45. Hmm.

Anyway, my father and I had a decent dinner. We went to a small, Chinese buffet restaurant on Eglinton at Brimley. Other than the Saturday special of all-you-can-eat lobster, the food was typical, deep fried, Chinese buffet fare. Not that great. But it gave us a chance to hang out together, which was the important part.

My Toronto - G20 Summit

The 2010 G8 and G20 Summits are being held in Huntsville and Toronto, Ontario respectively (June 25th-27th, 2010). Many leaders from all over the world are descending on our city as we speak.

In previous years that the summits have been held there have been violent protests. So our federal government has assembled a 20,000 man force made up of police officers and security guards from all around the country.

In the downtown core there is also a 3 metre high, 5 kilometre long fence surrounding vital buildings such as the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. In total the bill to pay for all this is supposed to top out at just over $1 billion. I thought I would ride down and have a look at this spectacle on Friday.

It was pretty weird. The northern border the fence runs along Wellington Street. It's western boundary is just west of Peter St. along the western edge of the Rogers Centre. It's southern boundary is Lakeshore Blvd. West. And it's eastern boundary is Bay Street.

I first entered the fenced off area at University and Front (where the photo was taken). Besides the odd tourist or two it was pretty much empty except for a huge police presence. Normally it's bustling with activity being right by the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and Union Station. There were almost no civilian vehicles inside. Those that entered the area were subject to a police check of course. In some areas pedestrians and cyclists like me were asked to have our bags/knapsacks checked too. In other areas I was able to ride straight in. I was denied access to one area. But, let in everywhere else. Including the back of the area I was denied access to after I rode around another way. Hmm.

Most of the officers I spoke with were very friendly. I chatted with cops from Calgary, Vancouver, Manitoba and Markham. I asked the out of towners what they thought of our city. They didn't really get a chance to see much on this trip, but most of them have been here before. I think some of them got to see the C.N. Tower on their free time and the "Fake Lake" at the press centre and the Direct Energy Centre at the CNE grounds.

I also told them the $1 billion+ price tag for the summit seemed pretty excessive. I think most of them had to agree. But, one officer said, "You can't put a price on safety". It's true that safety is important, but I'm sure we could have gotten it done for less.

They were all really shy too. None of them wanted their photos taken. I asked a whole bunch of them. Two agreed at one point, but when I asked them if I could shoot the rest of the guys they were standing with the others didn't want their photo taken. Okay, fine. No problem. I thought it might be nice to get a few group shots to highlight how many of them there were. Still you can see groups of them in the backgrounds of some of my photos.

Anyway, it was fun riding around. It's probably the only time any of us (including the officers I spoke with) will get to experience something like this. I thought it would be good to document it with my camera. Check my Flickr.com page soon for the rest of the shots.