Ontario: A new report by the Ontario Human Rights Commission has found Black people in Toronto are disproportionately stopped and searched by police despite the Ontario government’s efforts to regulate so-called “street checks.”
The commission’s final report on anti-Black racism within the Toronto Police Service, released today, says that while official
street checks appear to have been effectively eliminated, Black people still report being stopped and searched at a much higher rate than people from other racial groups.
It points to, among other things, a survey conducted in 2019 two years after the provincial regulation banning official street
checks took effect that found 40.4 per cent of Black respondents reported being stopped by police at least once in the previous two years, compared with 24.7 per cent of white respondents and 24.9 per cent of Asian respondents.
The report also says Toronto police collected and retained “significant personal data” through street checks before the
provincial rules took effect, which it says should be destroyed unless the data is needed for investigative purposes.
(The Canadian Press)