Thank you very much, Mr. McKay, and thank you for inviting me.
I'm going to make seven concrete proposals to address systemic racism in policing.
First, collect and publicize race-based data. Although we know that the problem of systemic racism has been with us for a long time, we need statistics to measure whether it is getting better or worse in terms of both those accused of crime and crime victims. The RCMP especially should work with Statistics Canada to collect and publicize data.
Second, Parliament should regulate police practices. Parliament has, in the last 30 years, largely left this to the courts. In the U.K., Parliament proactively regulates police conduct and then ties that to the collection of statistics. In the U.K., for example, you know each year how many stops and searches have been made by police officers and who has been subject to stop and search.
Third, I would change the law of self-defence and use-of-force policies. Indigenous and racialized people and people with mental health issues are overrepresented among those killed and injured by the police. In 2012, Parliament liberalized the law of self-defence so that on paper it is broader than section 25 relating to police use of force. Parliament should make clear that reasonable self-defence cannot be based on racist fears, even if those are genuinely and subjectively held. We also need to revisit not only police use of force but also tactics and de-escalation.
Fourth, we should link policing with other social services and also make self-administered indigenous police agencies a priority and an essential service. We are asking the police to deal with intergenerational trauma, addictions and mental health issues. They should be required to work with other public and community agencies with more expertise and less coercive force. The number of indigenous police services has declined from 58 in 1992 to 36, whereas the number should be heading in the opposite direction. Such police services need resources and the freedom to work with others in the community, and hopefully to take over policing from the RCMP, OPP and the Sûreté.
Fifth, we must improve governance inside and outside of the RCMP. The seven-person Yukon Police Council, which has three first nations members and is chaired by the deputy minister of justice, is a model that you should look at closely. The RCMP, especially in its contract policing role, can no longer rely on top-down governance from a very busy Minister of Public Safety through to the commissioner. For example, Surrey is gaining much more local control over policing by opting out of contract policing. We need to find a way to have better local governance of the RCMP when it is involved with contract policing and also better governance of the RCMP overall. The new advisory committee is there to handle corporate risk, not to provide citizen input.
Sixth, we have to improve citizen complaints and review in general. As you know, the RCMP's review body is underfunded and underpowered as the ongoing travesty of not releasing the report on the RCMP's interaction with Colten Boushie's family illustrates. I really hope the RCMP's result is not released on a Friday afternoon or on a busy day. The RCMP act needs a fundamental rethink, and if that is not possible, then the federal agency should get out of the way and let the provincial agencies assume responsibility over police complaints and, as they have in many jurisdictions, assume jurisdiction over investigations.
Seventh and finally—this is probably the biggest ask—we need to abandon the paramilitary model of policing, which I believe is perhaps more entrenched in the RCMP than in any other police force. We need to move towards an educated, professional model. Police officers are educated professionals just like teachers, nurses and lawyers. They require continuous learning, hiring, specialization and easier licence suspension.
Right now we have a quasi-criminal disciplinary process. I fear that with the unionization of the RCMP, this will only become a more difficult instrument. Rightly, the police are educated professionals. They are paid as educated professionals, but they should also be subject to licence suspension just like teachers and lawyers are.
Thank you very much.