STORIES OF PREJUDICE
Public hearing continues
Calgarians at city hall Wednesday heard another day of often emotional, painful stories about racism in the city and what needs to change.
City council’s public hearing on systemic racism continued for a second day after nearly 13 hours of listening to a panel and dozens of public submissions Tuesday. The committee closed the speaker sign-up at noon Wednesday, but with upwards of 150 people on the list to speak, the hearing will continue into today — and potentially at least one more day beyond that.
Late Wednesday evening, the meeting was still going.
Coun. Gian-carlo Carra is co-chairing the meeting with Malinda Smith, the incoming vice-provost of equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of Calgary. She said the experiences people have described show discrimination across generations, with everyone from teenagers to university students and professionals telling council about how racism has affected their lives.
“Individually and collectively, these many voices illustrated not only that systemic racism exists, but together the voices also illustrated how systemic racism works,” she said.
“What we are talking about with systemic racism is a system of domination and disadvantage that unfairly impacts some and advantages others. Racism is not just negative; it also advantages and benefits some. It also has incentives to maintain the status quo, and we must disrupt those incentives to ensure change.”
Many people at the public hearing have spoken about policing, with Black and Indigenous people describing being profiled and unjustly targeted by Calgary officers.
Adam Massiah said as a Black man born and raised in Calgary, he’s encountered racism in the education system and from police.
He talked about being singled out by police for an aggressive search when he was going through a security check at a concert at the BMO Centre. Instead of the usual pat-down received by his friends, who weren’t Black, he said an officer threw his belt and the contents of his pockets and wallet on the ground, and made him put his hands against the wall for a search.
Massiah said after he was let through, the officer called him back and told him, “You didn’t get the memo. It’s an all-white party.”
“I’m 26 and I’ve never called the police out of fear. And this is just one story as to why,” Massiah said.
“When racism has a gun and a badge, the consequences are a lot more severe.”
Lawyer Nyall Dabreo, a member of the expert panel brought in by the city, said the consequences of the types of encounters Massiah described threaten people’s physical safety, but also their future if they end up facing criminal charges.
“Not only do individual police members have badges and guns, but ... there are charges that arise from this. Not just physical harm. And a criminal record is a big deal in society.”
Massiah said police shouldn’t be responsible for investigating fellow officers facing complaints about racism, and he’d like to see police assessed regularly for implicit bias, the same way they’re required to go through fitness checks.
He also said the school system he experienced in Calgary taught a “whitewashed” curriculum that doesn’t do enough to address the true history of Canada, including the abuses of residential schools.
“I’m not doing any of this protesting or coming up to you to speak because it’s going to make my life different,” Massiah said. “One day I want to have kids. And
I have a little sister. I don’t want them to experience what it is that I’ve had to go through.”
Many participants in the public hearing have been critical of the process, which provides an open forum to speak but no clear idea of what happens after people tell their stories.
Smith noted the “fierce urgency” to take action that’s been underlined by people who have spoken.
“We must be clear about setting targets for change and timelines. There must be anti-racism infrastructure that’s tasked with getting this done,” she said.
Coun. Evan Woolley said he was struck by the many people who said they’re afraid of the police, who feel fear when they see people who are supposed to be tasked with community safety.
He said even though the Police Act is under provincial jurisdiction, the definition of inaction would be to simply send a letter to the province outlining their concerns, without doing more to address systemic problems.
“The systemic challenges in the Calgary Police Service have been laid bare in the last day and a half. And I think there are going to be some important and difficult conversations, and some big actions, some structural actions, to undo the systemic racism that we have acknowledged is taking place in our city.
“With regards to Calgary Police Service, I think we are committed to bringing them in to have that conversation.”
He said the city is committed to having that conversation with the police, but he wants to make sure council isn’t dictating the process and that it’s led by Black people, Indigenous people and people of colour.
Racism is not just negative; it also advantages and benefits some.