Members of the Jane and Finch community are calling for Ontario’s minister of community safety and correctional services to resign after he made what they describe as “racist and discriminatory comments” about the neighbourhood, while speaking in the legislature.
A grassroots organization called Jane Finch Action Against Poverty issued a statement Thursday saying that the minister’s comments, particularly regarding his decision to wear a bulletproof vest during the police ride-along, were “appalling.”
“Thousands of residents of Jane-Finch, from over one hundred cultural backgrounds, proudly live in the neighbourhood, without (a) bulletproof vest or fear of each other, knowing that the most brutal violence imposed on them has been caused by poverty and racial discrimination reproduced by all levels of government, and years of austerity and rich-loving/poor-bashing policies,” the statement reads.
“Instead of scapegoating and stereotyping our community, stop cutting community programs and services, stop providing more tax breaks to the rich and corporations so they can become even richer, stop destroying our public schools and creating more precarious employment and stop justifying more policing in our neighbourhoods; start bringing real long-term decent jobs and sustainable investments in the community as opposed to short term PR announcements.”
The statement comes a day after Michael Tibollo, when asked in the legislature about the practice of carding, relayed a story about how he went on a police ride-along in the area around Jane Street and Finch Avenue and spoke with residents, who said they feared for their safety.
“I went out to Jane and Finch, put on a bulletproof vest and spent 7 o’clock to 1 o’clock in the morning visiting sites that had previously had bullet-ridden people killed in the middle of the night,” he told the house.
Tibollo also said he and Ontario Premier Doug Ford visited a “crack house,” saying he “walked over broken crack pipes.”
Tibollo’s comments also prompted criticism from the opposition.
“He has basically stigmatized an entire community,” Andrea Horwath, the leader of the official opposition, told the media on Thursday. “He has basically insinuated that if you’re in a neighbourhood with lots of black people you need to use a bullet-proof vest.”
Butterfly Gopaul, a spokesperson for Jane Finch Action Against Poverty, said that it was disturbing to hear the minister responsible for the directorate of anti-racism say such a “hurtful, racist, disgusting comment.”
“How dare you publically demonize this community,” Gopaul told CP24. “No one’s afraid. No one’s wearing bulletproof vests. We’re not afraid of each other.”
Gopaul says the neighbourhood doesn’t need policing between the hours of 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. Rather, the Jane-Finch community could benefit from more resources.
“We need money. We need money for housing. We need clean, proper homes (and) transit. We need schools that aren’t falling apart,” she said. “We need resources to make things happen. You don’t need to demonize a community that’s trying.”
At a news conference held before a Toronto police board meeting on Thursday, Toronto Mayor John Tory said that he has visited the Jane-Finch community numerous times and feels comfortable continuing to do so.
“I have never worn (a bulletproof vest) on any of my visits, nor has anyone asked me to,” he said.
Toronto police said Tibollo was given the vest as a precaution. A spokesperson said that there is a “presumption” that the person doing the ride-along will be provided with a vest.
The minister has not apologized for his comments, but said that in hindsight, he wishes he had not mentioned the vest. He said he needs to be “a little more refined” in terms of the language he uses.
He also maintained that Toronto police would not let him participate in the ride-along if he was not wearing a vest.
-With files from CTV News Toronto’s Colin D’Mello.
