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Results: 1 - 4 of 4
View Joël Lightbound Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses as well.
I represent the riding where, unfortunately, the Quebec City mosque attack occurred on January 29, 2017. The mosque is in the heart of my riding.
I can tell you one thing: Quebec City's Muslim community was experiencing fear long before January 29, 2017. Groups like La Meute were behind a number of incidents. For example, group members would hand out cards at halal markets and in front of mosques. They wouldn't give their names, but they would tell people they were keeping an eye on them, watching them. They put a pig's head at the front door of a mosque. They were responsible for all kinds of incidents that contributed to a climate of fear, something no one in the country should have to experience because of their faith.
I don't think it was a lack of good faith on the police force's part. I just think it was a lack of training and awareness. Police likely did not have the necessary level of trust or the resources to properly support a community that very clearly felt threatened in its day-to-day activities. Unfortunately, the community still feels that way at times. I think that's true right across the country.
I want both Mr. Fogel and Mr. Farooq to talk about best practices police can apply to build trust with communities. Do you have any examples of things we can do at the federal level? You talked a bit about that in your opening statements, but I'd like you to elaborate.
Mustafa Farooq
View Mustafa Farooq Profile
Mustafa Farooq
2021-06-16 17:33
Thank you.
This is an important question. I think there are a number of best practices that do need to be undertaken. Part of those best practices involve a lot of community listening and working with local communities in an authentic way. I mean if we look at the Quebec City police, for instance.... I remember, in 2019, the Quebec City police put forward the notion that hate incidents had significantly decreased. That wasn't true, and when we talked to folks, we were able to clarify quite quickly that they had calculated their statistics wrong in terms of the fact that hate crimes were much higher than what they said they were. When police agencies are working with local communities, when they're listening to local communities, when they're listening to those who are saying that we can't police our way out of this problem and that there needs to be a multifactorial approach while, of course, maintaining that there has to be a role for effective law enforcement, I think that's really when we start to come to solutions.
Shimon Koffler Fogel
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Shimon Koffler Fogel
2021-06-16 17:34
I'm hesitant, but I'm going to be a little provocative over here.
Mustafa, if I get it wrong, then please tell me.
Here's part of the challenge. Different communities have different relationships and histories with law enforcement. When you ask how law enforcement, police services can play a more constructive or more effective role, the answer is going to be different based on the experience of a particular community. For Muslim Canadians who may have felt racially profiled, or for indigenous peoples, or for women who have felt that police have been generally dismissive, there's a first step that has to take place before everybody can be aligned in the same place to move forward. I think it's a really complicated question that speaks to the need for this to be assessed and managed at the granular level, which is why municipalities are so important to the solution.
Kent Roach
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Kent Roach
2020-11-16 16:29
Well, I think it's very important to empower racialized people within the RCMP so that there are support groups. I know that's in the Toronto Police Service and the Ottawa Police Service, where groups of racialized police officers not only can mentor but can also respond to problems that they have within the organization. That's one thing.
The second thing is that I think we need to have consultative community committees, but we also need to realize that speaking to two or three people in one community is never enough, and we need to have town hall meetings. I think that in some cases the commissioner needs to listen—and I know she's very busy—but she also needs to have people within various communities who she can have a continuing relationship with, but who then can also take her to different communities in order to have a town hall.
Policing has to be democratic, and the commissioner has to realize that. As with any police chief, the police chief works for the board or, in this case, the commissioner works for the minister, and if it's not working out, then, as in all cases, it's maybe time to find someone who has a different vision.
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