9,500 sign Edmonton petition to divest new police funding
Advocates want proposed $75M budget increase to go to community groups
EDMONTON The local chapter of Black Lives Matter is primed to push city council to divest funds out of policing and into Edmonton community organizations.
Belen Samuel, a core organizer with Black Lives Matter Edmonton (BLM), said the organization is calling on the city to give money that is currently slated to go to Edmonton Police Service (EPS) to community groups. She said reinvesting in groups such as the Africa Centre, RARICA Now and HIV Edmonton will help address systemic and generational trauma in marginalized communities and address issues in the community before they become criminal.
“I think a lot of these services in terms of counselling and mental health, disability support and behavioural support and analysis, like those areas are lacking in our community but also on a societal scale in our city,” said Samuel.
An online petition circulated by BLM calling for the divesting of police funds has garnered over 9,500 signatures. The petition and an attached letter addressed to city councillors asks for $75 million in proposed budget increases to EPS over the next three years to be invested into the community. It also calls on city councillors to never again vote to increase EPS funding.
In the nearly $3-billion 2019 City of Edmonton budget, 14.9 per cent of funding was allocated to policing.
“It’s quite alarming, the large amount that is allocated for Edmonton Police Service given the experiences that specific populace are facing locally,” said Samuel.
In addition to divesting funds, the petition calls for the removal of student resource officers from Edmonton schools and for police to no longer respond to mental-health calls.
It also calls for the reduction of the overall size of the police force and argues carding is an anti-black practice that is used to harm the community.
Samuel said mental-health calls do not require the use of restraints by police and that they often lead to harassment of front-line workers who accompany police. Instead, she said, qualified and skilled mental health professionals would be better suited to respond.
“There are levels or strategies of de-escalation that need to be put in place but from culturally relevant and informed perspectives, from very trauma informed and trained foundations,” said Samuel.
“I think that the representation of Edmonton Police Service and the skills that are present do not allow for that.”
Samuel said if a decision is made to divest police funds, Black and Indigenous communities should be consulted on what place EPS would have in the city.
Following a peaceful protest against racism and police brutality held last Friday that saw an estimated 15,000 people in attendance, Mayor Don Iveson said he would be speaking to EPS Chief Dale Mcfee and the Edmonton Police Commission about funding at a Wednesday meeting.
Representatives for both the mayor and EPS declined requests for interviews prior to the police commission meeting. They both said they would be available later this week.
Coun. Michael Walters told media Monday he has never received more responses from the community on a single issue while he has been in office.
“The questions about reallocation of resources are interesting in that they’re not new questions. Two police chiefs have served our city while I’ve been on council and both have said about 30 per cent of their work is social work,” said Walters.
Calls to defund, divest or abolish policing have been circulating online and during protests following the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed during an arrest when Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Since then, nine Minneapolis city councillors have vowed to remove the city’s police service and replace it with a community-based public safety system.
Sharif Haji, executive director of the Africa Centre, said actions need to go further than divesting funds, and that community groups need to collaborate with police and elected officials to overhaul existing policy.
“This will open a discussion of closer collaboration with the police. If we want to talk about the justice system, what is the proportion of Black people in the police system? Do we have Black populations in the commission?” said Haji.
Haji said the Africa Centre has received an outpouring of support from the community in recent weeks, including a number of monetary donations which will partially go to increasing scholarships for people of colour. He argues elected officials cannot ignore the support groups such as his have received from the public.
“Police and the community organizations need to work in a serious manner of not only saying that we collaborate, but really have to put that into practice,” said Haji.