Safer Ontario Act will erode police legitimacy
When unveiling new legislative changes to police oversight in Ontario, Attorney General Caroline Mulroney stated The Safer Ontario Act, or Bill 175, previously introduced by the Liberals, “was the most anti-police legislation in Canadian history.”
Interesting choice of words considering Bill 175 was partially in response to growing concerns over anti-Black and Indigenous racism within Ontario policing. Mulroney’s careless (and quite frankly dangerous) language promotes the all too common “us vs. them” rhetoric that has often characterized policeminority relations in Ontario.
By dramatically stating that the previous bill “viewed every police officer in Ontario as a potential criminal,” Mulroney also seems to co-opt, or even mock the language of minority activists, who have often claimed that racial profiling treats all Black and Indigenous people as criminals.
Over the past few months a number of comprehensive reports released by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the now defunct Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), and Justice Michael Tulloch’s street check review, suggest that Black and Indigenous communities are targeted and overpoliced.
Thus, not surprising, a growing volume of Canadian research and previous Ontario government reports suggest that racialized communities have little confidence in a public service that is meant to serve and protect them. I am quite certain the scrapping of Bill 175 will further entrench that distrust.
The existence of racism within policing is often downplayed and attributed to the behaviours of a “few bad apples,” thus there continues to be heated debates with respect to how much bias exists within policing.
Regardless, there is growing consensus that police services must address the reality of bias, minimize the negative impact that bias has on marginalized communities and work to improve perceived legitimacy of the system.
Incorporating bias training for officers has been identified as one area to help address racial, gender, and sexual bias and improve police-community relations. Unfortunately, there is very little evidence to suggest that bias training for police has a significant impact on either improving police behaviour or improving minority perceptions. Thus, Mulroney’s call for mandatory training on human rights, systemic racism, diversity, and Indigenous issues will do little to promote positive community relations, especially among racialized communities. Training is not accountability.
It is argued that perceived police legitimacy is strongly associated with the public’s level of support for the police, their willingness to co-operate with police investigations and their willingness to comply with the law. Monitoring police activities to promote fairness and equity issues is often associated with increased legitimacy.
This was to be achieved through Bill 175. The goal was to increase transparency and accountability and strengthen Ontario police oversight bodies, including the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the OIPRD, and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC).
In addition, police services were to acknowledge and focus on how to eliminate systematic racism toward Indigenous and Black populations. With the revamped Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act (COPS — no pun intended), the OCPC has been dismantled.
Officers are still required to co-operate with an SIU investigation. However, proposed fines for lack of co-operation have been reduced, thus giving police officers little incentive to co-operate with investigations.
Finally, the OIPRD (renamed the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency) now has less oversight powers over complaints against the police.
Changes proposed by the previous government were meant to increase police legitimacy. The current government has eliminated that opportunity. Despite what Mulroney states, increased transparency and improved accountability is not “anti-police.” Instead, her skewed narrative has taken away the voice of “the people” who need it the most; dangerous rhetoric being pushed by a government meant “For the People.”