Family speaks out against police violence
Rally at Kitchener city hall marks second anniversary of Beau Baker’s death
KITCHENER — After two years, Jackie Baker says she isn’t any closer to knowing what happened the night her son died.
Beau Baker, 20, was shot and killed by a Waterloo Regional Police officer on April 2, 2015.
Beau, who had mental health issues, was shot at after reportedly advancing on police with a knife outside his Brybeck Crescent apartment.
On Monday, Jackie Baker and her sons, along with about 20 supporters, gathered outside Kitchener City Hall to remember Beau and to speak about what the family calls excessive police violence. Beau was shot seven times outside his apartment.
“What kind of world do we live in that you shoot someone and there is no accountability?” she said.
Baker said she’s afraid for young men because if there are mental health concerns or issues of race or class, or if they poor, they could be a target.
“People have said, ‘Oh, he lived on Brybeck Crescent. He must have been a criminal.’ My son was not a criminal,” she said.
Hannah Batten said she came to show her support for the Baker family and “to challenge the structures that dehumanize people.”
Last August, the province announced it would hold a coroner’s inquest probing the circumstances around Beau Baker’s death, after initially deciding against an inquest. It is expected in the fall.
The decision was reviewed after Baker said in media interviews that she didn’t know the details of her son’s death or the
name of the officer involved in the shooting.
The Special Investigations Unit, the province’s police watchdog, investigated her son’s death. It does not release its full reports to the public, and names officers only if charges are laid.
Most police services do not release information on their internal reviews of shootings.
Baker said the inquest will be the only way she will learn more about what happened to her son and the name of the officer involved in his death.
The family is also suing the police for $6 million.
Richard Giles, a master’s student in global governance at the University of Waterloo, was at the rally. He said he hopes a report on the three bodies that oversee policing that is expected to be released this week will address inequities.
Justice Michael Tulloch headed a seven-month, government-commissioned review — the Independent Police Oversight Review — and was tasked with speaking to residents across the province and making recommendations to improve police accountability and transparency.
“Justice Tulloch needs to open up accountability,” Giles said. “The SIU is not great at public accountability. There needs to be more co-ordination with police.”
The review, to be released Thursday, examined the Special Investigations Unit and criticism that the provincial agency is secretive and made up of investigators who are former police officers and biased in favour of law enforcement.
The report will also examine the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which deals with public complaints about officers. The other agency being examined is the Ontario Civilian Police Commission.