e-3349 (Social affairs and equality)

Petition to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

• The practice of racial profiling by law enforcement seriously threatens the equal rights, democracy and justice for all Canadians;
• The Supreme Court has acknowledged that systemic racial profiling is a “day-to-day reality” for Black and Indigenous Canadians;
• In 2017, a UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent found that racial profiling is “endemic” in Canadian law enforcement, and urged this country to immediately discontinue this practice in all of its forms;
• While some provinces have passed regulations and moratoriums prohibiting these practices, pretextual pedestrian “street checks” and “stops” of Black motorists (aka "driving while black") persist;
• There is a clear link between public confidence in policing and public safety, the erosion of police legitimacy has profound consequences for our justice system, the cost effectiveness of police services and billions of taxpayers’ dollars paid annually;
• To date, there has been no concrete meaningful action from governments to effect systemic changes in policing to eliminate the practice of racial profiling; and
• Canada has the constitutional power to legislate in respect to “peace, order and good government”.