The Current

'This mistrust is deep': how to improve relations between racialized communities and Canadian police

The Current hosts a panel discussion on how best to address long-standing tensions between police and the black and Indigenous communities in our country.
Hundreds of people filled the staircase beside the U.S. embassy in Ottawa July 11 for a rally supporting the Black Lives Matter movement across North America. (Hillary Johnstone/CBC)

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As tensions flare between black Americans and law enforcement in the U.S., momentum is building to combat racial discrimination in Canada, as reflected by recent Black Lives Matter protests in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. 

I've been profiled on my university campus [...] and I was like "Oh, I'm getting a PhD in sociology."- Sam Tecle, York University student

The Current hosts a panel discussion on the prevalence of racist policing in Canada, and how to bridge the divide between law enforcement and racialized communities it is tasked to protect. 

For a good majority of Canadians [...] they're not carded, and they're not stopped while driving. For Indigenous peoples in Canada, that's a lived experience every single day.- Nahanni Fontaine, NDP MLA
  • Marc Rainford, a former constable with the Toronto Police Service 

  • Sam Tecle, a PhD student in sociology at York University working with the Jane and Finch community organization Success Beyond Limits
  • Nahanni Fontaine, an NDP MLA who has researched Indigenous-police relations 

Listen to the discussion at the top of this web post. 


This segment was produced by The Current's Sarah Grant, Peggy Lam, Pacinthe Mattar and Ines Colabrese