Two years after the assassination of George Floyd, the Canadian government says it will soon order the RCMP to ban the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and necks.
In an interview with CBC News on the second anniversary of Floyd’s death in police custody, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino said that his office in the coming days will give instructions to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki , to end the use of controversial techniques by the police.
Although the federal government does not oversee local police forces, Mendicino said he hopes his directive to the RCMP will serve as a model for reforming other police services across the country.
“There are some police services that have already taken these steps, but we believe that with a set of new and modernized policies on the use of force by the RCMP, it can serve as a model for other law enforcement offices. the law across the country, “Mendicino told CBC.
When asked for more details, the minister said he anticipates that the RCMP will work to end the use of these techniques by the end of the year.
Figures obtained by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin under the Access to Information Act show that the neck restraint technique, although rare, is still used in Canada.
The RCMP has argued that the neck suppression technique applies pressure to both sides of a person’s neck without restricting the airways and causes a brief period of unconsciousness that allows police officers to handcuff a person.
Every three years, says the RCMP, officers must undergo refresher training on the use of the neck and tear gas retention technique.
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino said he believes the RCMP can eliminate these police techniques by the end of the year. (Adrian Wyld / Canadian Press)
The RCMP has been reviewing his neck use since Floyd’s assassination. It is sometimes called a carotid restriction, “subject of the bedroom” or “blood suffocation”, it differs from the restriction used by the Minneapolis police officer who killed Floyd.
Floyd died after then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. Jurors found Chauvin guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. Chauvin is attractive.
According to a press release obtained by CBC News, the RCMP still allows its agents to place a knee on a person’s upper body in some cases.
The Sunday Magazine23: 38Why we need to know more than just George Floyd’s name
Wednesday marks the two-year anniversary of the assassination of George Floyd. Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa join Piya Chattopadhyay to talk about the life of the man whose death, under the knees of a Minneapolis police officer, sparked an international conversation about the race, and whose name came to symbolize racial injustice and police brutality in the United States. His new book, His Name Is George Floyd, shows how systemic racism shaped Floyd’s life and how he repeatedly tried to overcome it. Samuel and Olorunnipa interviewed more than 400 people, including lawyers, teachers, family, and friends, to tell the story of Floyd, revealing all the ways in which he was loved and how he came to his fateful last day.
Commissioner Lucki said carotid retention is at the end of the continued use of police force, as is the use of a firearm.
“That’s when something serious will happen or death or personal injury,” he said in 2020.
Reacting to the news, Alain Babineau, a consultant on public safety and racial profiling issues and a former RCMP official, said he was unsure whether removing these control measures was the right decision. He said he wants to see the evidence on which the government is basing its decision.
“Now if we start limiting intervention tools for the police, then we are limiting the options they have,” Babineau said. “If guns become the only option, then it’s reasonable to think that things can go very wrong sometimes.”
Non-police solutions are emerging
In an interview with CBC News, Mendicino said his government is committed to reforming law enforcement in Canada, a position that clashes with calls from some Black Lives Matter protesters to dispossess police services. its funding or even abolished.
Despite resistance from politicians, a police abolitionist said the move has been successful in slowing police growth and in some cases reducing its footprint in some communities.
Robin Browne, leader of the Ottawa black community, said activists have been successful in freezing police budgets and eliminating the presence of police officers in schools.
“They’ve come a long way, but there’s definitely work to be done,” Browne said.
Browne and others say they would like communities to redirect funds to non-police solutions, such as a pilot project underway in Canada’s largest city.
This year, a $ 11 million pilot project was launched in Toronto after the death of Ejaz Choudry, By André Campbell i Regis Korchinski-Paquet in meetings with the police. All three were suffering from mental health crises when they died.
The pilot project envisions 911 and 211 operators connecting some callers with community services for people in crisis, not the Toronto Police Service. It is considered one of the most extensive non-police alternative response programs that has emerged in Canada since Floyd’s assassination.
One of the organizations involved in the pilot is the Gerstein Crisis Center. Its staff manages a crisis hotline and sometimes sends a mobile computer to customers.
“Many communities, such as blacks, Indians, and people of color, are already traumatized (by the police),” said crisis intervention worker Darna Savariau-Daley. “So having someone in a uniform, having someone in authority, having someone come in to say, you know, you have to go with us, adds more trauma.”
TARGET | The National talks to Denise Campbell about the alternative police pilot project:
The Toronto program aims to answer mental health calls without police
Following the deaths of Ejaz Choudry, D’Andre Campbell and Regis Korchinski-Paquet, the City of Toronto has launched a $ 11 million program to create teams that can respond to mental health calls without police officers. Ian Hanomansing talks to Denise Campbell, the woman leading this effort.
Taibu, a community health center that focuses on Toronto’s black community, participates in the pilot. Its executive director, Liben Gebremikael, draws a direct line between Floyd’s assassination, the death of Korchinski-Paquet and other cases of deaths of Canadians in police custody.
“It put institutions and organizations in a position where they could no longer ignore the challenges the community has faced for generations,” he said.
For more stories about the experiences of black Canadians, from racism against blacks to success stories within the black community, check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project that black Canadians can be proud of.
(CBC)