Promising to change and do better, the Halifax Regional Police chief offered the African Nova Scotia community an apology Friday for generations of negative experiences with the police and the specific practice of street checks.
“I am sorry for our actions that caused you pain,” Dan Kinsella said in front of about 125 people in a small Halifax Central Library auditorium.
“I am sorry for all those times you were mistreated, victimized and revictimized. While decades of injustices cannot be undone, we are committed to doing better moving forward. My hope is that today’s apology shows you our commitment to change and our promise to do better.”
Kinsella said an apology is just the first step and he outlined a corresponding action plan that will include an advisory committee with strong community membership, officer training, diverse recruitment and public education.
Spurred by the March report on street checks by Toronto criminologist Scot Wortley that pointed to African Nova Scotians being almost six times more likely to be street-checked than whites, the 12-minute apology immediately drew mixed reviews.
Raymond Sheppard, a human rights activist, said the format should have allowed for a question-and-answer section that could address questions about community involvement going forward and when an advisory committee can be struck.
“My whole point as a senior indigenous African Nova Scotian is this, it’s 540 years too late and it depends on what will happen in the go forward and that should start today,” Sheppard said. “There are members of the community here now, how about making a list of people who would be interested in serving on an advisory.
"I am sorry for our actions that caused you pain.
- Halifax Police Chief Dan Kinsella
“If there was a question and answer, several people in the audience that I am familiar with had suggestions. It was a closed apology, if you will.”
The police chief said the force has failed the black community many times and its failings have had a deep and negative impact on generations of African Nova Scotians and disproportionately on young black men.
“I’ve heard stories from people who describe constant fear and doubt when doing simple, day-to-day activities,” Kinsella said. “That’s wrong.
“Young men who describe being racially profiled and stopped by police, both while driving and walking, and in those instances feeling humiliated. That is wrong. Parents answering a late-night phone call from their child who has been unfairly targeted in a group of youth and arrested. That’s wrong.”
Raw video of Kinsella's apology
Harvi Millar, a business professor at Saint Mary’s University, said the apology was a start.
“It didn’t go far enough to lay out what the police force would actually do to change the organization’s culture,” Millar said. “When I’m looking to see how serious an organization is about change, I look to see what budget allocations are going to happen. The chief had enough time to look into the future and say what is it that we will spend, two per cent, three or four, from our budget in transforming the culture of the police force.
“Things like advisory groups and so on, that’s fine, but that will not bring about fundamental change unless we begin to see a completely different approach to policing.”
"The apology I would score it five out of 10. It needs to go a lot further."
- Havi Millar, business professor who said he has been harassed by police
Millar, who said he and his wife have been harassed by police because they are black people driving nice cars, said an effort should be made to design a policing model for the black community.
“I heard no innovation out of that apology. For me, it did not move me emotionally. … The apology I would score it five out of 10. It needs to go a lot further.”
But another member of the black community who wished to remain anonymous countered that the apology warranted an eight-out-of-10 score.
“I’ve been a victim of the checks while I was driving and when I was walking, for years, for decades,” he said. “I know how I felt then … and I felt that my victimization went down significantly when I heard the police chief talk. He was talking and then he had an action plan.
“He’s inviting, encouraging community leaders and stakeholders to be a part of that action plan and to be out front on that action plan. I have a lot of hope here, where there was little hope before.”
Street checks have been defined as an interaction or observation in which personal or identifying information is collected by a police officer and entered into a database. Wortley recommended in his report that the practice be banned outright or strictly regulated. In response, the provincial justice department first ordered a moratorium on street checks and later upgraded it to a ban after former chief justice Michael MacDonald submitted a legal opinion to the Nova Scotia Human Rights commission that the checks are illegal.
Justice Minister Mark Furey commended the municipal police force for its public apology and said the province would follow suit, stopping short of saying when.
The RCMP have said an apology from the national force will depend on the direction and timeline of Commissioner Brenda Lucki.
Mayann Francis, former lieutenant governor of the province and a past director of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, preceded Kinsella at the podium.
"Law enforcement agencies must understand that racism and discrimination is not part of their job description and they must not abuse their authority."
- Mayann Francis, former lieutenant governor and past director of N.S. Human Rights Commission
“Today is a day to pause and reflect on the history of racism and discrimination against the African Nova Scotian community and the legacy of mistrust that this has created in our city and our province,” said Francis. Francis spoke of the 1946 arrest of Viola Desmond for sitting in a whites only section of a New Glasgow movie theatre, the so-called Halifax race riot of 1991 that led to allegations of police using excessive force and the driving-while-black case against boxer Kirk Johnston, who in 1998 was pursued, stopped and ticketed by a white Halifax police officer who was not satisfied with Johnston’s valid documentation.
“The history of what we have experienced as black Nova Scotians is very painful,” Francis said. “We must understand and accept that law enforcement agencies are important for maintaining the rule of law. … Law enforcement agencies must understand that racism and discrimination is not part of their job description and they must not abuse their authority.
“It takes more than training programs to eliminate racist behaviour.”
Francis commended the Halifax police force for its courage in delivering the apology and asked that the audience pray that the day of apology would open a door to positive change between police and the black community.
RELATED:
- Police commission calls for action on Wortley recommendation
- 'Intelligence value:' Checking into street checks in Halifax
- Cape Breton police chief says street checks are not prejudicial
- African Nova Scotian group boycotts Halifax street check meetings
- GAIL LETHBRIDGE: Sorry, but we can’t apologize for street checks
- 'The right thing to do is ban street checks'
