Abdi tragedy has led to changes

Canadians of all backgrounds want to rebuild trust, says Aisha Sherazi.

On July 24, 2016, Ottawa Police responded to a disturbance at the Bridgehead Café in Hintonburg, where complaints had been made about a man apparently groping at least one female customer. Witnesses say the man was pepper-sprayed, and police say he became “assaultive.” Aside from the fact that pepper spray is said to evoke psychological symptoms such as fear, anxiety and panic, it transpired that the man, Abdirahman Abdi, also had a history of mental illness, though he was known in the community as a normally quiet, gentle soul. The arrest ended in Abdi’s death, and the community is still reeling.

A year ago, I attended the vigil organized by residents of the community affected. I expected droves of Somali Canadians, given the man was of Somali descent. Instead, I realized that Canadians of all backgrounds, black, white and brown, had showed up to mourn and grieve with the family. I was struck by the fact that a public death while in police custody does much to damage trust and relationships between the entire community and the police, regardless of race and religion.

One year on, following an investigation by the province’s Special Investigations Unit, Const. Daniel Montsion is charged with manslaughter, and Abdi’s family is still awaiting its day in court. That date, by all accounts, will not be until 2019. Family members will wait for almost three years to find out what exactly occurred on that fateful day and how Abdi died.

Montsion himself will have this hanging over his head for almost three years. He is no doubt convinced of his innocence, but will carry the burden of what happened for the rest of his life. There are no winners here.

Yet in the face of tragedy, we do well to recall how this death has sparked community empowerment, engagement and ultimately accountability.

Abdi’s death has taken its toll on our city and its police service. But it has also produced some positive changes. Rather than resort to shouting and screaming in public protest, which fizzles out and isn’t sustainable anyway, the Justice for Abdirahman Abdi Coalition has continued to try to hold the police and province accountable. It has asked important questions and aims to obtain greater transparency, challenge racial inequity and bring positive change to secure justice for Abdi and his family.

The Muslim community has stepped up in the attention it pays to acts of hate and how they are dealt with. During the last general election — even before Abdi’s death — members of the Muslim community alerted the Ottawa Police Service about an increase in open acts of hate towards Muslims, especially females. A Muslim woman received a pound of bacon in the mail at her place of work. Another found huge amounts of dog feces on her doorstep, with the words, “Go Home” smeared on the pavement. The Diversity and Race Relations section of the Ottawa police conducted outreach to help the community feel safer.

Seeing the trend, the National Council of Canadian Muslims, a non-profit organization based in Ottawa, has been instrumental in urging the police to allow online reporting of hate crimes, as well as track hate-crime incidents. It also provided a submission to Justice Michael Tulloch, who was appointed by the provincial government to conduct a review of police oversight bodies, and has collaborated with the Justice for Abdirahman Abdi Coalition.

In February, COMPAC (the Community Police Action Committee), made up of Indigenous and visible minority groups as well as the police, held an information session on the SIU to help the public understand the role of the investigative body and ultimately restore trust.

All these efforts will bring little comfort to Abdi’s family, which awaits answers, and which, one year on, has had little reassurance about what to expect from the trial. Nonetheless, these efforts show that we need to continue our discussions with the police and build back the trust that was damaged severely a year ago. They also attest that in the face of adversity and tragedy, the community has developed and proven it is capable of pushing for justice, even when the wheels of bureaucracy turn painfully slowly.

The community is paying attention and will not be deterred unless justice is served and relations between the police and the community become what they should be.