Want to defund the police? Take the protest to Queen’s Park where power resides, Luisa D’Amato writes

Just two weeks ago, more than 10,000 people filled downtown Kitchener to demand fundamental change in the way police do their work.

But those protesters would have been better off marching at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

Waterloo Region residents pay almost the entire $180-million budget for the Waterloo Regional Police Service. Yet they have next to no say in how much is spent, what it is spent on and how police do their job.

We live with a profoundly undemocratic disconnect between the people who make the decisions about policing, and the people who pay for it.

Let’s look at the police budget, for starters.

“Defund the police” was a key demand of protesters. They want $29.3 million diverted from police and invested instead in community programs for disadvantaged communities.

The police services board provides civilian oversight of the police and approves its budget.

But a majority of board members are not directly elected by Waterloo Region’s voters. Only three regional councillors sit on the board. Four other board members are appointed.

If the board approves the police budget, regional council has no choice but to pass the cost along to taxpayers. If a municipality thinks the increase is too high, it can appeal to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission in Toronto. But a municipality has never won an appeal.

If, as some have demanded, a municipality were to ask for a police service to be abolished or its size dramatically reduced, that same commission would make the decision.

Another thing: The police board can’t interfere with dayto-day decisions about policing.

If someone calls a board member with a complaint about the behaviour of an officer, all the board member can do is send the complainant to ... the police complaints department.

This inability to make change is part of the reason Kitchener Centre MPP Laura Mae Lindo doesn’t agree with a Black person being appointed to the vacant position on the local police board.

“You end up being outvoted and then you are compliant in whatever the board does,” she said.

Another issue that is completely decided in Toronto is what the police can and can’t do. That is covered by the Police Services Act.

It needs to be overhauled so that we can do things that everyone agrees is a good idea, like using trained civilians instead of armed police officers to help someone in a mental health crisis or a homeless person who is trespassing.

Clearly the best way to move forward is through the provincial government.

“I don’t have a lot of hope” for that, said Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife.

Fife said Premier Doug Ford had removed planned funding by the previous government for mental health supports. Yet police come to Queen’s Park each year to lobby for improved mental health supports.

The region’s three local Progressive Conservative MPPs sent an emailed response from a representative for Solicitor General Sylvia Jones.

It said local municipalities must lead plans for community safety and well-being to address “local crime and complex issues on a sustainable basis.”

The ministry’s Stephen Warner said there is also funding support from the province for mental health.

And “we will continue to engage with partners and community organizations to set clear and consistent standards for policing delivery that comprehensively address new and emerging community safety challenges.”