Student union calls for McMaster to axe De Caire as head of security

Motion calls for end to working relationship with police services

McMaster University’s Students Union (MSU) is calling for the removal of former Hamilton police chief Glenn De Caire from his senior administrative post as the school’s head of parking and security services.

In a meeting late Sunday night, the union’s student representative assembly voted in favour of a motion that implores McMaster to seize its contract with De Caire and abolish its special constable program. The motion further calls on the university to end its working relationship with both Hamilton and Halton police services.

More than 400 McMaster students emailed the MSU within the past month to call for the removal De Caire, and nearly 6,000 have signed a petition to fire the former police chief and dissolve the constable unit.

MSU president Giancarlo Da-Ré said the motion is a means of holding McMaster accountable to their June 1 public statement denouncing anti-Black racism.

“There is a misconception having no police, or a lack of special constables, means people will be less safe,” Da-Ré told The Spectator in an emailed statement. “McMaster currently has both of those systems (and) yet students, especially those within our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) communities, do not feel safe — rather, they feel targeted.”

De Caire took the head of security gig at McMaster in 2016.

Two months after his appointment, the MSU put forth a motion calling on the university to terminate the former police chief and end its campaign of increasing police presence on campus. It passed with 28 votes in favour and zero opposed.

Many of the same concerns raised then resurface in the current motion, which takes pointed issue with incidents that occurred while De Caire was the city’s top cop.

In 2015, De Caire came under fire for his defence of what some consider the unconstitutional and discriminatory practice of carding. That same year, De Caire seemed to endorse the idea that the Black community needs to stop blaming police for its problems.

The union’s calls to disband the special constable unit — whose 20-odd members receive training from Hamilton police — stems from repeated requests for the school’s parking and security division to release demographic data regarding on-campus detainments, stops and frisks.

McMaster’s total security budget is around $3.69 million for 2020-21.

“By reinvesting funding into campus resources with consultation from relevant community members, we can reimagine what campus safety and security looks like,” Da-Ré said. McMaster could not be reached for comment Monday.