Protesters send clear message to city hall on police reform,
Representatives scheduled to consider two proposals for reform this week
Within sight of Mayor John Tory’s city hall office and those of his council colleagues are messages left behind by protesters. They are also warnings.
“The power of the people is stronger than the people in power,” reads one chalk statement scrawled in rainbow colours.
When journalist, activist and author Desmond Cole stepped up to a microphone in Nathan Phillips Square Sunday, he asked those attending a rally pushing to defund and abolish the police to write those messages outside the doors where council normally meets ahead of Monday’s scheduled meeting. Police reform is a key item on the agenda.
“We’re here to say there are alternatives to the violent, colonial, white settler policing structure that exists and that we have to put those alternatives forward so that the people inside that building can’t say they didn’t know or weren’t told,” Cole said.
On Sunday, the normally full reflecting pool in the square was occupied by rallygoers — largely at a distance from one another and wearing masks in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — for the event organized by the No Pride In Policing Coalition.
The gathering follows another weekend of protests and pressure on council, just one day before two proposals will be considered virtually regarding the Toronto Police and their more than $1-billion budget. The first, from Coun. Josh Matlow, requests the police reduce their budget by at least 10 per cent in 2021. The second, from Tory, recommends exploring alternative community safety measures and other reforms, like speeding up the implementation of body-worn cameras for all officers. Tory’s motion would see the police budget increase in the immediate term and does not prioritize defunding — something that has rankled activists.
On Sunday, organizer Beverly Bain, a Black, queer, feminist scholar, told reporters both proposals are “not good enough.” At the rally, Bain outlined a history of police abuse and mistreatment of marginalized communities, including those identifying as LGBTQ.
The No Pride In Policing Coalition was born out of demands made by Black Lives Matter Toronto at the 2016 Pride Toronto parade. Sunday’s rally took place on Pride weekend where normally crowded live events were largely replaced by virtual ones.
Cole, who authored “The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power,” spoke to the rally about the recent verdict in the trial of Toronto police officer Michael Theriault and his brother Christian following the beating of Black teen Dafonte Miller. The injuries Miller suffered that night in 2016 in Whitby after encountering the brothers led to him losing an eye. On Friday, Christian was cleared of all charges while Michael was found guilty of a lesser charge of assault.
“We never counted on the justice system to deliver fairness and accountability, did we?” Cole asked the crowd. “And so the decision is not a surprise, but it’s another reason why what we’re doing here today is so important. Dafonte is just one person.”
He told those gathered to write down better ideas for community safety.
“Reflect on what would be different if we could use the resources that are currently being used for policing to actually care (for) and support Black, Indigenous, queer and trans, homeless and disabled and other marginalized people in our community,” he said.