Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says the head of the union that represents Toronto Police officers “misinterpreted” her comments to Black Lives Matter demonstrators on Monday.

“All I can say us that in his reaction to my comments he misinterpreted what I said,” Wynne said.

Wynne says that when she agreed with demonstrators who said there is anti-black racism in the province, she did not aim her remarks in any way towards police.

“I wasn’t talking about the police service, I was talking about a societal reality that we all have to grapple with,” Wynne told reporters on Wednesday morning.

Wynne said that one only has to look at the overrepresentation of indigenous and racial minorities in provincial jails or child welfare to accept that racism is alive and well in the province.

She also pointed to the disparity in high school graduation rates, with the rate of graduation for some minority groups coming in at 30-40 per cent below Ontario’s 84 per cent overall average.

Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack said Tuesday that by agreeing with the Black Lives Matter protesters that there is systemic racism in the province, “you could reasonably draw the conclusion that (Wynne) was talking about policing,” and that notion, especially the idea that police as an institution actively discriminate against racial minorities, was “troubling.”

“I would hope (McCormack) looks back and I hope that he will, like I do, recognize that there are challenges across society,” Wynne said. “I’m not saying anything about police in Toronto or anywhere else.”

Since last month, the Black Lives Matter Toronto movement has asked for police officers who shoot and kill individuals while on duty to be named publicly —regardless of whether the killing was deemed to be justified by the provincial Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

The movement has also asked the province to reform the structure of the SIU.

Wynne said she hasn’t commented specifically on the demands made by demonstrators, but has encouraged several of her cabinet ministers to meet with the protestors privately and discuss next steps.

Tory calls BLM co-founder’s deleted tweet ‘incendiary’

Meanwhile, both Toronto Mayor John Tory and Wynne responded to a since-deleted tweet by Yusra Khogali, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, which read:

“Plz Allah give me strength to not cuss/kill these men and white folks out here today. Plz plz plz.”

Wynne said she has “no idea what the connection is between a random tweet from one person and a position of an entire group.”

Tory called the tweet “incendiary.”

“I don’t think there’s any place for (tweets like this). I think they imply violence which is no way to deal with these issues.”

On Tuesday, fellow Black Lives Matter Toronto co-founder Sandy Hudson told CP24 that she would not comment on Khogali’s tweet.

“It would be besmirching the memory of Andrew Loku, of Jermaine Carby, and the people who have died in our community,” she said, calling the mention of the tweet in the media “tabloid” and “not public interest news.”

Tory said he has in writing, asked the Black Lives Matter protest leaders to meet several times, on the condition that the first meeting is private.

On Wednesday, Khogali tweeted in defiance of her critics.

“I am powerful. I am strong. I am beautiful. I am resilient. I am untouchable. I will never stop resisting. Come at me,” her tweet read.