Policing only one aspect of urgent justice reform
The standard operating manual for governments facing a social crisis is fairly simple: make empathetic noises and defer action until the heat dies down. Striking a task force can often do the job nicely. When absolutely necessary, call a public inquiry.
However, strategies of this sort will not quell the outpouring we have witnessed recently over the neglect and oppression of Black people in the criminal justice system. For many years now, investigations, studies and academic papers have scrupulously examined the problems and supplied the necessary answers.
In short, there is nothing left to say; there is everything left to do.
Thus far, attention has focused on the front end of the system — policing. Grossly inflated police budgets have strangled resources for recreational, social and educational programs designed to protect and nurture at-risk youth.
Rather than arming police with the latest in tactical gear, we must equip them with better training, sensitive to cultural realities and the potential for abuse toward racialized communities. Police practices that remain steeped in institutional racism will not change until officers have the training and the resolve to resist stubbornly antiquated modes of thinking.
Many of these shortcomings were identified in a 2017 report on police oversight by Justice Michael Tulloch. A top appellate court judge and a member of the Black community, Tulloch understood the shaky relationship that exists between racialized Canadians and police forces that are perceived as opaque and unaccountable. His 129 recommendations included many aimed at increasing transparency and accountability for the province’s police forces and the bodies that oversee their conduct.
Of these, a good many were poised to become law at the time Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party came to power. Amid much bluster about the proposed legislation being “anti-police,” it was gutted.
In a particularly regrettable move, the province ignored a key recommendation that would have empowered the Special Investigation Unit to go well beyond investigating only “serious injury or death” cases and pursue a wider array of police misconduct allegations, such as perjury, obstructing justice and systemic racism or discrimination.
As Tulloch also urged in his report, extensive evidence uncovered during SIU probes should be accessible, regardless of whether charges resulted. Society cannot expect racialized communities to trust in police oversight when they are not able to assess the evidence that led to charges not being laid.
When a Black defendant is brought into a Canadian courtroom, they can still count on being surrounded by a sea of white faces. It is crucial that hiring and training programs be improved to bring greater racial diversity into the justice system so this will no longer be the case. This is particularly so with Crown prosecutors, who play such a central role in negotiating the plea agreements that resolve the vast majority of prosecutions.
As for the judiciary, no end of lip service has been paid to the need for diversity, yet the pace of change remains embarrassingly slow. Federal and provincial governments richly deserve the contempt of racialized communities for not backing up their words with action.
Yet, perhaps no element of the justice system cries out for reform and racial sensitivity more than sentencing. Many of the special considerations applied to Indigenous defendants should apply equally to Black defendants. Those whose lives and prospects have been adversely affected by systemic racism should have this life experience documented and considered by sentencing judges. The courts must encourage our justice system to examine the law through the lens of critical race theory.
None of these reforms will come into being without specialized training. Just as attention has focused on enhanced training in sexual assault in recent years, intensive training is just as vital for all justice system participants when it comes to anti-Black discrimination.
There is ample work ahead for all levels of government and no shortage of experts with whom they can consult — starting with the Black community. The only thing we are short on is time.