Activists to lead Black Lives Matter gathering in Victoria Park

K-W Solidarity March an opportunity to bring the community together to protest police brutality and anti-Black racism

WATERLOO REGION — Local activists will gather in Kitchener’s Victoria Park on Wednesday to march in solidarity with Black communities across North America.

“It is a way to bring our community together to say, ‘we’re not just not racist, we’re anti-racist,’ ” said Selam Debs, the activist and organizer behind the K-W Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter.

Debs said the march is a protest against the police brutality experienced by Black men and women across the continent.

“We don’t want to sit at home and watch what is happening to our community and be silent on this.”

This past week has been an emotional one for Black communities everywhere, said Lang Ncube of the African, Caribbean and Black Network of Waterloo Region, also one of the organizers.

“It’s just a wide array of emotions mixed in with a lot of sadness ... of course there is the anger, the anger that time and time and time again people are constantly having to fight for this,” she said.

The week began with the viral video of Amy Cooper’s frantic call to

police about Christopher Cooper, a Black birdwatcher who asked her to leash her dog in New York City’s Central Park.

Then George Floyd died after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis. It was a death that spurred protests across the country.

Last Wednesday Regis Korchinski-Paquet died after a fall from an apartment balcony in Toronto while police were inside the apartment. Her death is now the subject of an investigation by Ontario’s civilian police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit.

Debs and Ncube said Korchinski-Paquet’s death is a sad example of Canada’s own problem with systemic discrimination against Black and Indigenous communities.

“I think it’s time for Canadians to stop looking at ourselves as this benevolent country that is not impeded by racial injustice,” Debs said.

She said it is time to have open conversations about how officials, police services and communities can take action to break down systemic barriers faced by Black communities.

Waterloo Region Police Chief Bryan Larkin said he was saddened and angry by the events occurring south of the border in a video posted to Twitter Monday. He acknowledged that systemic discrimination exists in policing and that police need to do better.

Ncube said she is tired of empty words and wants to see real change happen.

Predominantly Black neighbourhoods often experience higher levels of police presence, even in Waterloo Region, she said. Black individuals make up two per cent of the population yet account for nine per cent of all police encounters according to a 2016 analysis by The Record.

Police officers across Canada need to have better training to de-escalate situations, she said. “We expect them to do so much,” she said, adding that if the community expects police officers to handle mental health calls, then they should be trained like mental health providers.

Wednesday’s march will have strict rules in place to follow physical distancing measures during the pandemic. Organizers have made it mandatory to wear a mask if attending. The march will also be streamed live for those who are not able to attend.

The march is a peaceful protest, Debs stressed. She hopes people will follow the rules.

“We can’t control what people will do, we believe that people will do their best to make the right decisions.”