A police watchdog files his report
Memoir of the fight for reforms also examines larger issues of social justice
Sammy Yatim was aged 18 in 2013 when Toronto police officer James Forcillo fired eight 9mm bullets from his Glock automatic into him, ending his life.
Less than a minute had transpired between the arrival of officers at the corner of Dundas and Bellwoods, where Yatim’s erratic behaviour on board a #505 streetcar had alarmed other passengers. Despite the fact he was bleeding out on the floor of the streetcar with eight bullets in his body, the next police officer onto the streetcar Tasered Yatim.
Three years before, more than 100 Toronto police preparing to provide security at the controversial G20 conference illegally removed name tags from their uniforms, making it impossible for the demonstrators to hold officers accountable for abuse. (Setting aside for a moment the instances of excessive force used against demonstrators, 513 of the detained demanded access to a lawyer, and 448 of them did not get access to legal advice or protection during their detention.)
Welcome to Alok Mukherjee’s world. A respected academic and human rights activist, Mukherjee served on the civilian oversight body for the Toronto police from 2005 until 2015. During that time he dealt with police shootings of citizens undergoing mental health crises and police tactics like the notorious “carding,” that created a widespread impression that people of colour were being targeted for street stops by errant racial profiling; young men guilty of nothing but
“walking while black.”
Mukherjee’s new book Excessive Force, co-written with Toronto journalist Tim Harper, is a memoir of the author’s experience trying to improve policing in Toronto, and his reflections on the larger issues of social justice associated with our armed “peace officers.”
None of the troubling issues Mukherjee describes have been adequately dealt with in Canada, so this is an important book that should be read by every Canadian. Last year, 65 Canadians died due to contact with the police, and every year the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (where, full disclosure, I serve on the board of directors) investigates deaths and injuries sustained by citizens and residents at the hands of the police.
We need to do better, and this passionately felt and closely argued book offers a way to begin necessary reforms. Highly recommended.