NDP critic slams ‘rampant’ racism in Ontario justice system

Calls for more details on conditions in Toronto jail

Systemic racism is “running rampant” in Ontario’s justice system, the NDP’s Laura Mae Lindo told the legislature Monday, called for more information on conditions at the Toronto South Detention Centre.

The comment came on the heels of a Star story outlining four complaints filed with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario by Toronto South jail staff alleging anti-Black and other forms of racism, a “toxic” workplace, and a lack of opportunities for advancement for racialized people.

“These conditions don’t just happen at Toronto South,” Lindo, the NDP’s anti-racism critic, said during question period. “To be honest, we’ve got report after report saying that systemic racism is running rampant in our justice system.”

The four Toronto South staffers — two of whom are Black, another Black Indigenous and the fourth South Asian — are calling for systemic changes to the jail, where their lawyer, in an October email to jail administrators and high-level officials in the Ministry of the Solicitor General, said “racialized personnel bear the brunt” of a “rather sick work environment.”

Lindo used her time in the legislature to say the “ministry should have known what was happening, so why has this government failed to address systemic racism at Toronto South Detention Centre?”

In response, Solicitor General Syliva Jones said she thought “we were all disturbed when we heard the allegations, but I must reinforce: In fact, they are allegations.”

“An active investigation is happening, and I don’t want to presuppose the outcome. The importance of having investigations happen without overdue political interference is a very important part of our judicial system.”

Citing similar reasons, the ministry refused to answer any of the Star’s detailed questions for the initial story, including about an “experiment” that placed around 20 Black inmates from more than a dozen rival gangs in the same unit. Within minutes of the cell doors being opened, serious fights broke out, injuring both inmates and staff, in what was described as a “fight club.”

Glendon Thomas, a Black sergeant at the jail, described in his human rights complaint 25 management job opportunities since 2016 that went to nonracialized people at the South, and told the Star he would gladly return to working at the Don Jail, where there was racism, but not at the level at Toronto South, which opened in 2014 and quickly gained a poor reputation.

“The culture there was different,” Thomas said. “It wasn’t as blatant as it is now. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my 16-year career.”

Thomas put forward a proposal for systemic changes but did not get a response.