I think the most important thing to consider when we think about relationship building between the police and the communities they serve is that you can spend countless hours trying to foster good relations and all it takes is one high-profile case of abuse to undo all of that work. That's the reality.
What progress could be made in the immediate...? I would like to see a clear signal from the commissioner on exactly how systemic racism, as she now understands it, is going to be addressed, and for that to begin to be rolled out over the summer. I think many of us in the academic world, as well as others watching, were quite shocked given, again, all of the recommendations that have been made and all of the talk around addressing issues of, I would say, diversity, because “diversity” is often used.
I think we need to recognize that issues of racism are different from issues of gender discrimination, which are different from issues of discrimination for sexual orientation. The fact that, in 2020, the commissioner of the RCMP could not articulate what systemic racism is has done nothing to appear to the public that the service is doing something to address systemic racism. I think a statement with clear plans on how that's going to be dealt with needs to be—