Black Torontonians continue to face racial profiling, street checks despite elimination of 'carding,' report finds

Black Torontonians continue to be disproportionately subjected to unnecessary stops, questioning, and searches by Toronto police years after the practice of “carding” was formally scrapped, a new report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has found.

In the third and final report in its inquiry into anti-Black racism by the Toronto Police Service (TPS), the OHRC outlined the findings of its six-year inquiry.

In the report, which was released Thursday, the commission indicated that racial profiling continues to be a significant issue within the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and arbitrary street checks are still being conducted. This is despite the fact that ‘carding,’ a discriminatory practice that allowed police to randomly stop individuals on the street, was prohibited by the province in 2017.

The report authors referenced a 2019 survey conducted by Environics which found that 40.4 per cent of Black respondents reported being stopped by the police at least once in the previous two years, compared to only 24.7 per cent of white respondents and 24.9 per cent of Asian respondents. Black respondents were also more likely to be subjected to multiple police stops, with 26 per cent of Black respondents reporting that they had been stopped two or more times in the previous two years, compared to only 11.8 per cent of Asian respondents and 9.8 per cent of white respondents.

“Members of Black communities and community advocacy groups told the OHRC about TPS officers conducting unnecessary stops, questioning, and searches. Many told the OHRC about being randomly stopped on the street for no reason,” the report read.

“Black individuals of all ages have been stopped during normal day-to-day activities, such as when walking on public streets, at work, with friends and family, and in front of their homes.”

The report identified “significant” gaps in the Toronto Police Service’s policies, procedures, training, and accountability mechanisms, which have contributed to systemic racial discrimination and mistrust of police among members of the Black community.

Evidence gathered by the OHRC on TPS charges, arrests, use of force, and street checks confirm that Black people are “significantly overrepresented across the spectrum of policing interactions,” the report stated.

The commission said data it examined shows that Black people remain disproportionately represented in “all instances of use of force by the TPS.” This includes cases that result in death or serious physical injury, as well as cases involving “lower-level use of force,” the report added.

The report stated that the police service’s policies do not “adequately guide officer discretion to stop and search people” and do not offer enough guidance to officers on whether to lay charges, arrest, or use alternatives. The police service has also not yet developed a distinct policy or procedure on racial profiling, according to the report.

“This report is the first of its kind. It combines quantitative analysis of hard data with the experiences of Black people, chronicling the extensive and long-standing harm suffered by Black communities as a result of discriminatory policing over many decades,” the authors of the report wrote.

“The impacts of such harm at a societal level are incalculable. The evidence of systemic racial discrimination and anti-Black racism cannot be ignored.”

The OHRC has made more than 100 recommendations to address anti-Black racism within the police service, changes that must be “legally enforceable.”

Recommendations identified in the report include destroying historical street check data, expanding circumstances where officers should not use deadly force or shoot, as well as expanding the collection, analysis, and reporting of race-based data, including data on all police stops. Officers should also be given more guidance on discretion to use informal warnings, cautions, or diversion programs.

The commission first launched its inquiry in 2017 and has since released two interim reports, one in 2018 and another in 2020. The final report was initially set to be released two years ago but the commission said pandemic-related issues contributed to the delay in releasing it.

The commission said that in recent years, TPS and the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) have taken steps that represent “genuine progress,” including an apology in 2022 from then-interim Toronto Police Chief James Ramer.

At that time, Ramer acknowledged that members of the Black community in Toronto are “disproportionately over-policed,” a fact that TPS data confirms. He also recognized that the police service “has not done enough” to ensure that every individual in Toronto “receives fair and unbiased policing.”

The report notes that this apology came following “sustained pressure from the Black communities” along with “a social movement demanding change.”

“To ensure real change, the TPS and TPSB must commit to specific, systemic, and concrete actions that are legally enforceable,” the report read.

“The decades of reports and calls for action from Black communities show that if the TPSB and TPS are committed to change, they must legally bind themselves to that change.”

In a statement released Thursday, TPS said it is now beginning to carefully review the recommendations outlined in the report, which will be done “in collaboration with the OHRC.”

“Both the Service and the Board are committed to learning, and to continuing this important work as we address the impacts of systemic racism,” Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said in a statement.

“We readily accept that there is more and challenging work to be done, and we welcome the OHRC’s report as an important resource for us as we continue this work.”