Reid, Tiana
One night in the mid-80s, a bit before I was born, my parents went to a party in Mississauga. My mother is white and most of the people there were black, like my dad. As the party was winding down at about midnight, they went to leave through the backyard. At the gate that led out to the street, a group gathered, peering out through the fence at a police car parked nearby. Nobody wanted to leave. My mother, being white, described it like this: “There had been nothing illegal going on at the party that I knew of. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, so I said ‘Let’s go.’” According to my mom, the black people at the party were more along the lines of: “I have done nothing wrong but the police are out there and we feel uncomfortable.” Ethics 101 aside, eventually my white mom and black dad left the party.
When they drove out of the neighbourhood, an unmarked police van stopped their car. They asked for ID, and when my mom said she didn’t have any on her, they asked if she was a “good girl,” probably insinuating that she was a sex worker. They did a background check but all they could find were some unpaid traffic tickets, which they said my dad had to pay on the spot. The police then followed them to an ATM, where my dad took out money amidst shouts of “nigger” from a guy outside the store. They didn’t get a receipt. My mom, not really sure what was going on during the hurried encounter, recounted to me later that it just didn’t seem right.
That was over twenty-five years ago. Alas, some things don’t change.
Last year, the Toronto Star published articles showing the breadth and significance of Toronto police’s carding practices. Analyzing the police’s own data obtained through a freedom of information request, the ongoing “Known to Police” series brought to light what black people already knew: black people—and black men in particular—are being “stopped and checked” at overwhelmingly disproportionate rates.
Soon after, Canadian activist organization the Black Action Defense Committee (BADC) announced it was suing the Toronto Police. Launched in November 2013, the lawsuits essentially attempt to gain recognition for years of racial profiling, carding, deportation and unequal treatment in prisons, alleging rights violations under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Human Rights Code. Earlier this month, BADC filed their class-action complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, seeking $100 million in damages.