Hundreds of activists from the Black Lives Matter movement stood across the front entrance of Toronto police headquarters on Saturday to demand greater scrutiny of police-involved shootings in the GTA.
The protest’s “Blackout Against Police Brutality” demonstration started on Saturday afternoon, with speeches, songs and dance outside the Toronto Police building on College Street.
La Tanya Grant’s cousin, Jermaine Carby, was shot dead by police in Brampton in Sept. 2014, after being pulled over by Peel Regional Police.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit cleared the officer who pulled the trigger of any wrongdoing.
“I’m thankful for this movement but I don’t think we’re going to get any answers any time soon,” Grant said. “I believe that that they’re going to continue to kill our people and nothing’s going to change.”
She and other demonstrators are asking that police services release the names of officers who shoot and kill people during encounters, even if they are cleared by the SIU.
Grant said she feels the police are not properly trained to deal with people suffering from mental illness.
She also said she and others at the rally want the SIU to be made up of a diverse array of people, instead of former police officers.
“That’s the only way there’s going to be a change.”
Protestors first set up camp outside the building last Sunday, after the SIU cleared Toronto police of any wrongdoing in the shooting of 45-year-old Andrew Loku. A Sudanese migrant with a wife and children, Loku was shot dead in an apartment building in the area of Caledonia Road and Eglinton Avenue last July.
Other demands made by the group include the release of video footage depicting the encounter between Loku and police, an apology and financial compensation for Loku’s family, a coroner’s inquest into Loku’s death and a reconsideration of charges against the officer involved.
Several hundred people participated in the demonstration, spilling onto the street and prompting police to close College Street between Bay and Yonge streets for several hours on Saturday evening.
“We’re going to be here for as long as the community wants to be here,” said Alexandria Williams, co-founder of Black Live Matters’ Toronto branch. “The purpose of this is to make sure that we have intersections of different communities coming together to work to work in solidarity to combat anti-blackness.”
The rally included advocates for other groups including indigenous people.
In response to the demonstration, Toronto City Councillors Mike Layton, Kristyn Wong-Tam and Gord Perks will submit a motion in council asking Toronto to request that the provincial government to review police conduct in Toronto and how the SIU conducts investigations that involve racialized people.
Wong-Tam issued a news release saying she is ready to broker a meeting between Black Lives Matter leaders, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders, city councillors and members of the Police Services Board.
