The provincial government will develop mandatory regulations governing police street checks in an effort to allay concerns that young black and brown males are being disproportionately targeted by the practice.
Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Yasir Naqvi announced on Tuesday morning that the province will create a working group over the summer that will help to craft the new rules with the goal of having the regulations in place by the fall.
The announcement comes two days ahead of a Toronto Police Services board meeting in which mayor John Tory is expected to push for the permanent cancellation of carding.
“We have all heard the personal stories about the negative experiences associated with street checks in its various forms, experiences where members of racialized communities are going about their business having done nothing wrong and are stopped for no reason," Naqvi told reporters at Queen’s Park. "It is clear that the status quo in these cases is not acceptable and cannot continue.”
According to Naqvi, the working group on carding will include representatives from various community organizations, civil liberty organizations and policing partners as well as Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario Brian Beamish.
The group will look at issues ranging from the circumstances in which police are allowed to ask an individual for information, the rights of those being asked for information and the rules governing the retention of that information.
Calls from carding opponents to require that police inform those they stop that they are not required to provide their information will also be considered, Naqvi said.
“There are ample examples (of bias) out there and we want to come up with an approach that is thoughtful, that is consultative and at the core protects people’s fundamental rights that are guaranteed by the charter and the Ontario Human Rights Code,” Naqvi said. “Our aim is to prevent unjustifiable police stops for no reason or without cause.”
The Toronto Police Service has faced heavy criticism in recent months over carding and two weeks ago Tory said that the practice has “eroded public trust to a level that is clearly unacceptable.”
Speaking with reporters, Naqvi said the “calls for reforms” to carding have been loudest in Toronto but are also being made elsewhere in the province, where the practice is more commonly known as “street checks.”
A previous survey by CP24.com determined that Peel Regional Police, Durham Regional Police, York Regional Police and the Ontario Provincial Police all practice a form of "street checks."
“Whether you are a black woman in downtown Toronto, a brown skinned man in Brampton or a teenaged First Nations boy in Thunder Bay, wherever people in this province are being treated differently solely because of the colour of their skin I want you to know that we have heard you.” Naqvi said. “We want to work together to ensure that you are treated with respect and dignity and that your confidence in law enforcement is restored.”
In April, the Toronto Police Service Board amended its carding policy to prohibit officers from considering “race, place of origin, age, colour, ethnic origin, gender identity or gender expression” when deciding whether to stop someone for questioning, however critics of the practice panned the changes as insufficient and following months of criticism Tory admitted that “there is no real way to fix a practice that has come to be regarded as illegitimate, disrespectful and hurtful.”
The about-face came after Police Chief Mark Saunders defended carding as a “valuable tool” in fighting street gangs.
“Here in Toronto we were being proactive developing this kind of policy and doing this kind of consultation but unfortunately Chief Saunders was cut off at the knees sort of speak before he could roll that out,” Toronto Police Association President Mike McCormack told CP24 on Tuesday. “There was some interesting information that was coming out in that process and we are looking forward to it getting back on track so we can figure out how to get this thing right.”
A moratorium on carding in Toronto was put in place in January and remains in effect, though police previously said that it would resume at some point under Saunders.
In a statement issued to CP24 on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service said that the organization "very much looks forward to working with the province on this important issue of mutual concern."
Meanwhile, another statement issued on behalf of the mayor said that Tory’s commitment to end carding completely still “stands.”
“It’s clear from this morning’s announcement that the province has come to the same conclusion he has - on the carding issue, public trust has been damaged and must be restored,” the statement said. “Along with Chief Saunders and the Toronto Police Services Board, the Mayor will work with the province to design a way that allows police to do their job and keep the city safe while protecting citizens’ fundamental rights.”
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