![Toronto Police Cars](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Toronto_Police_Cars.jpg)
In
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, carding, officially known in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
as the Community Contacts Policy,
is an intelligence gathering policy involving the stopping, questioning, and documenting of individuals when no particular offence is being investigated.
The interactions take place in public, private or any place police have contact with the public.
[ The information collected is kept on record in the Field Information Report (FIR) database.] FIRs include details including the individuals' gender, race, the reason for the interaction, location, and the names of any associates, to build a database for unspecified future use. Officially, individuals are not legally detained, but this distinction is not clear.
Carding programs have been shown to consume a considerable amount of police resources, with little to no verifiable results on the level of crime. Carding is also known to contribute to a disproportionate amount of black and Indigenous people being recorded in law enforcement databases. Consequences for Indigenous and racialized populations include mental and physical health problems, loss of trust with the police, disparities within the criminal justice system, and social disadvantage, including potential loss of educational and employment opportunities.
In summer of 2014, the Toronto Police Service
The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...
discontinued the use of physical hard copy cards; officers were instead directed to enter the information captured during community engagements into their memobook as Community Safety Notes, which may be retained for a maximum of seven years. Ontario's 2014 Counter Terrorism Plan directs police to ensure carding intelligence "is shared regularly with key partners", including Criminal Intelligence Service Canada
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC; french: Service canadien de renseignements criminels) is an inter-agency organization in Canada designed to coordinate and share criminal intelligence amongst member police forces. Established in 1970, th ...
, the Ontario Provincial Police
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorpo ...
, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...
and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
.
Meaning
Regina Police Chief Evan Bray stated that the distinction between carding and police-civilian interactions depends upon whether or not the information collected is recorded. In 2017, the Vancouver Police Department
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) (french: Service de police de Vancouver) is the police force for the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Area and is the second ...
definition of a "street check" is when an officer stops a person to conduct an interview or investigation in regard to suspicious activity or a suspected crime. In 2018, the Vancouver Police Department clarified that an incident is only considered a "street check" when an officer successfully records an individual's personal information.
Kevin Brookwell, a spokesman for the Calgary Police Service
Calgary Police Service (CPS) is the municipal police service of the City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is the largest municipal police service in Alberta and third largest municipal force in Canada behind the Toronto Police Service and the Mont ...
, claimed that the term "carding" originated in Eastern Canada, though Lethbridge Police Chief Rob Davis asserted that the term "carding" originated in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, and that a street check is not stop and frisk. Waterloo Police Chief Bryan Larkin claims officers card individuals to determine how people connect to each other. Halifax Regional Police
The Halifax Regional Police (HRP) is one of a number of law enforcement agencies operating in the Halifax, Nova Scotia; the other primaries being the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Forces Military Police. The city also is home to a ...
says officers also conduct passive street checks, where records are based on observations rather than interactions.
The Victoria Police Department
The Victoria Police Department (VicPD) is the municipal police force for the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest municipal police department in Canada west of the Great Lakes, the first Can ...
defines street checks as "when a police officer proactively conducts a field interview or investigation with a member of the public related to suspicious activity or a suspected crime".
Aliases
; Street Check Reports: The Peel Regional Police
The Peel Regional Police (PRP) provide policing services for Peel Regional Municipality, Ontario, Peel Region (excluding Caledon) in Ontario, Canada. It is the second largest municipal police service in Ontario after the Toronto Police Service an ...
refers to the practice as a "street check" and enter information gathered from "street check reports" into a database that Peel police maintains. The Edmonton Police Service
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) is the municipal police force for the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific O ...
also uses the term street check report.
; Collection of Information In Certain Circumstances (CIICC): Espanola Police call this practice "collection of information in certain circumstances" (CIICC).
; Check-Up Slips: Prior to November 2016,[ the ]Calgary Police Service
Calgary Police Service (CPS) is the municipal police service of the City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is the largest municipal police service in Alberta and third largest municipal force in Canada behind the Toronto Police Service and the Mont ...
had a practice of collecting Check-up Slips.
; Street Intelligence Reports: The Lethbridge Police Service
The Lethbridge Police Service, formerly known as the Lethbridge Regional Police Service, was established 1905, and serves the city of Lethbridge, a community in southern Alberta of approximately 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census.
History
T ...
has a practice of gathering Street Intelligence Reports.[
; Contact Interviews: The Saskatchewan Police Commission avoids the term carding because it prefers to use a more neutral term] In July 2018, the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners, defined a Contact Interview as a "contact with the public initiated by a member of a police service with the intention of gathering information that is not related to a specific known incident or offence". Contact Interview information may be kept for up to five years.
; Info Posts: In October 2016, at a carding seminar held by the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre at the University of Calgary
The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...
, Calgary Police Chief Roger Chaffin announced that the term check-up slips, will be decommissioned and replaced with the term info posts.
; Police Stop: On 15 January 2020, the Attorney General of British Columbia
The attorney general of British Columbia (AG) oversees the Ministry of Attorney General, a provincial government department responsible for the oversight of the justice system, within the province of British Columbia, Canada. The attorney general ...
introduced the term "Police Stop" into section 6.2 of the Provincial Policing Standards. The standard specifies that such an action may include a demand for identifying information.
Scope
Ontario regulations constraining carding came to effect at the beginning of 2017, changing the scope of carding in Ontario cities.
Prior to 2017
* The PACER report indicates that from 2009 to 2011, there were 1,104,561 persons entered into the Toronto Police Service Field Information Report (FIR) database.
* In 2009 the Vancouver Police Department
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) (french: Service de police de Vancouver) is the police force for the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Area and is the second ...
made 11,507 entries for street checks into the BC PRIME database. Between 2008 and 2017, officers conducted 97,281 street checks. 15% were Indigenous persons, (2% of local population), 4% were of Black persons (<1% of local population), with racial disparities increasing over time.
* The Ottawa Police Service
The Ottawa Police Service (OPS; French: ''Service de police d'Ottawa'') is a municipal police force in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OPS serves an area of 2,790 square kilometres and 1,017,449 (2021 census) people alongside several other police ...
entered 45,802 people into the Ottawa Records Management System (RMS) database from 23,402 street checks in the years 2011 to 2014 In 2012, Andrew Tysowski discovered that while innocent of any crime, the Ottawa Police Service
The Ottawa Police Service (OPS; French: ''Service de police d'Ottawa'') is a municipal police force in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OPS serves an area of 2,790 square kilometres and 1,017,449 (2021 census) people alongside several other police ...
had collected and stored some of his personal information for six years.
* The Hamilton Police Service published the annual number of street checks its ACTION team completed in its 2013 year-end report to the service's oversight board: 5,423 Street Checks in 2011, 4,803 in 2012 and 3,684 in 2013, records of these activities were recorded in the service's NICHE database.
* Since 2005, Halifax Regional Police
The Halifax Regional Police (HRP) is one of a number of law enforcement agencies operating in the Halifax, Nova Scotia; the other primaries being the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Forces Military Police. The city also is home to a ...
officers have submitted 68,400 street checks of 36,700 individuals. Information is stored in Versadex, a Halifax Regional Police database also used to store other information.
* The Waterloo Regional Police have conducted 68,400 street checks between 2005 and 2015. Stops in the region increased from 1339 in 2005 to 8500 in 2013. Records capture date, time, and personal information such as address, height, weight, sex, and race.
* Since 2006, Niagara Regional Police officers have submitted 157,315 street checks.
* From 2009 to 2014, the Peel Regional Police
The Peel Regional Police (PRP) provide policing services for Peel Regional Municipality, Ontario, Peel Region (excluding Caledon) in Ontario, Canada. It is the second largest municipal police service in Ontario after the Toronto Police Service an ...
conducted 159,303 street checks, recorded on PRP17 cards, and a freedom-of-information request by a Peel Region resident revealed that black people were three times more likely to be stopped than whites.
* Between 2011 and 2014, the Edmonton Police Service
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) is the municipal police force for the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific O ...
carded 105,306 individuals, an average 26,000-plus people per year. In Edmonton, carding information is stored indefinitely. The Police Service has acknowledged that "police do not inform people they have the right to walk away" and take the position that "some of the responsibility should be on individuals to know their rights".
* In 2014, the London Police Service
The London Police Service (LPS), or simply ''London Police'', is the municipal law enforcement agency in London, Ontario, Canada.
The LPS does not enforce federal statutes including the '' Criminal Code'', provincial offences such as the ''High ...
performed 8,400 street checks and entered 14,000 people, vehicles and properties into their database, of those identified, 71% were white, 7.7% were black and 5.3% were of First Nation heritage.
* In 2010, the Calgary Police Service carded 47,000 people, while in 2015 around 27,000 people having been carded.
* In 2014, the Saskatoon Police Service
Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) is the municipal police service in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It holds both municipal and provincial jurisdiction. Police Chief Troy Cooper is the head of the service. The deputy chiefs are Deputy Chief Randy ...
stopped nearly 4,500 people, about 1.7 per cent of the city's population. In 2015, 735 street checks were conducted. In Saskatoon, street check records are kept for ten years.
* In 2014, the Windsor Police Service
The Windsor Police Service is the municipal law enforcement agency in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It succeeded the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment.
Since 2019, the Windsor Police Service has also provided contract policing services for the nearby ...
generated 953 street check reports, the service averages 1,265 street checks a year.
* In 2015, the Lethbridge Police Service
The Lethbridge Police Service, formerly known as the Lethbridge Regional Police Service, was established 1905, and serves the city of Lethbridge, a community in southern Alberta of approximately 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census.
History
T ...
filed 1,257 carding reports, and 1,007 in 2016. Though 80 per cent of the Lethbridge's population identify as caucasian, 60 per cent of the recorded carding incidents in Lethbridge involved non-caucasians.
* In 2012, the Edmonton Police Service
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) is the municipal police force for the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific O ...
filed 27,322 carding reports, 27,155 in 2015 and 22,969 in 2016[.] During 2016 in Edmonton, Indigenous women were 10 times more likely to be stopped by officers.
In 2017
* In 2017, the Hamilton Police Service filed 5 carding reports.
* In 2017, the Ottawa Police Service recorded 7 carding stops.
* In 2017, the Vancouver Police Department
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) (french: Service de police de Vancouver) is the police force for the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Area and is the second ...
recorded 6,322 street checks[.] While Indigenous people make up about 2 percent of Vancouver's population, 16 percent of those subjected to Vancouver street checks in 2017 were Indigenous.
* In 2017, the Edmonton Police Service filed 15,909 street check reports, a 30 percent reduction from 2016 which Police Chief Rod Knecht attributes in part to the carding controversy.
* In 2019, the University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...
asserted that according to Policy 33, Members of Protection Services are authorized to request proof of identity
An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID card, citizen ca ...
from persons on campus.
* In 2020, Chief Mark Neufeld of the Calgary Police Service stated that even when there is no apparent evidence of a crime, stopping individuals and demanding personal information remains an important part of police work.
Criticism
Opposition to carding is widespread, with testimony and a news organization investigation indicating that carding in Toronto primarily targets Black Canadians
Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...
. The Law Union of Ontario submitted that carding implements a systematic violation of people's Charter rights, human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
, and privacy rights
The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. On 10 December 194 ...
. The Office of the Ontario Ombudsman
The Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario is an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario.
Role
The office's jurisdiction includes more than 500 provincial government ministries, agencies, corpor ...
believes the practice of carding is illegal.
On November 18, 2013, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA; french: Association Canadienne des Libertés Civiles) is a nonprofit organization in Canada devoted to the defence of civil liberties and constitutional rights.Dominique ClementCase Study: Canadian ...
denounced carding as "unlawful and unconstitutional" to the Toronto Police Services Board
The Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) is the civilian police board that governs the Toronto Police Service (TPS). The board is responsible for approving the annual police budget, defining objectives and policies for TPS, and hiring Chief of the ...
.
On January 13, 2014, the Ontario Human Rights Commission
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) was established in the Canadian province of Ontario on March 29, 1961, to administer the Ontario Human Rights Code. The OHRC is an arm's length agency of government accountable to the legislature through ...
formally notified the Toronto Police Services Board that the practice of carding must be stopped.
On May 7, 2015, in ''Elmardy v. TPSB'', Ontario Superior Court Justice Frederick Myers ruled "One who is not being investigated for criminality is allowed to walk down the street on a cold night with his or her hands in the pockets and to tell inquisitive police officers to get lost without being detained, searched, exposed to sub-zero temperatures, or assaulted."
On October 23, 2015, Ruth Goba, Interim Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Commission Rights Commission,
stated that when Hamilton Police Chief De Caire requires police officers to be "stopping, talking and investigating young black males", the Hamilton Police Service is implementing a textbook description of racial profiling. On April 26, 2016, Hamilton Councillor Matthew Green, a public official in Hamilton opposed to police carding, was carded by the Hamilton Police Service.
After a fact finding mission in October 2016, the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
' Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent expressed concerns that racial profiling is endemic to carding strategies and practices used by Canadian law enforcement.
On November 8, 2016, Mike Ellis, MLA for Calgary-West, stated that carding violates Section 9 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
On January 9, 2017, Halifax Regional Police released statistics showing police were three times as likely to card blacks than whites. Nova Scotia Premier
The premier of Nova Scotia is the first minister to the lieutenant governor of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and presides over the Executive Council of Nova Scotia. Following the Westminster system, the premier is normally the leader of ...
Stephen McNeil responded, "I don't think it's acceptable anywhere. I think I was startled, like most Nova Scotians, by the stats that were brought out". Mayor Michael Savage
Michael Alan Weiner (born March 31, 1942), known by his professional name Michael Savage, is a far-right author, conspiracy theorist, political commentator, activist, and former radio host. Savage is best known as the host of '' The Savage Na ...
said the numbers concerned him, and he would press the force to gather more information to determine why the checks were done and what police were looking for.[ In April 2017 the ]Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (the “Commission”) was established in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1967 to administer the Nova Scotia ''Human Rights Act''. The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission is the first commission in Canada to engage ...
announced that it will lead an investigation into the practice of carding in Halifax.
On June 14, 2015, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs
The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is a First Nations political organization founded in 1969 in response to Jean Chrétien's White Paper proposal to assimilate Status Indians and disband the Department of Indian Affairs.
Sin ...
and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) is an autonomous, non-partisan charitable society that seeks to "promote, defend, sustain, and extend civil liberties and human rights." It works towards achieving this purpose through l ...
[ filed a complaint to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner of British Columbia over carding of Indigenous and black people in ]Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
. Both British Columbian Premier John Horgan
John Joseph Horgan (born August 7, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2022, and also as the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party from 2014 to 2022. Horgan has been the ...
and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson have expressed concern over city police's use of street checks.
On September 26, 2018, Josh Paterson, executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, told the Vancouver Police Board, "There has been a long-standing debate about whether street checks as one of the tools of policing are effective, and there is some evidence to show it's not necessarily that conclusive."
On March 27, 2019, the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition called for a moratorium on street checks until the lawfulness of existing practices has been clarified. Whenever a subject's information is recorded the interaction means that, at least in the broadest sense of the phrase, the person recorded becomes "known to police." The threshold where authorities will report that someone is "known" to them varies, and can have a pejorative effect as the phrase "known to police" is often more strictly understood by the public to mean the person in question has previously been convicted of criminal offenses.
In August 2019, the City of Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
released a report finding systemic bias in street checks performed by officers of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal
The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM; ) is the municipal police agency for the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the neighbouring communities in the urban agglomeration of Montreal. With over 4,500 officers and more than 1,300 ...
, the police force for the city of Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, during 2014–2017. Indigenous and black people were shown to be between 4 and 5 times more likely to be carded than white people, while Indigenous women constitute a group particularly targeted, 11 times more likely to be questioned by the SVPM than white women.
On July 16, 2019, Victoria councillors unanimously approved a motion that calls on the Victoria Police Department
The Victoria Police Department (VicPD) is the municipal police force for the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest municipal police department in Canada west of the Great Lakes, the first Can ...
to end street checks in Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
.[ The motion notes that the practice of street checks goes against the city's strategic plan of creating a welcoming environment for all people, and highlights that police boards and police departments should take into account the priorities of local communities when establishing operational policies.]
Oversight
There is an ongoing debate around what ability police boards have to influence carding operations:
* The Hamilton Police Services Board moved to suspend the practice of carding while the province reviews, but it was stopped by the police service's lawyer. Instead the board moved to request an information report on best practices as it pertains to policy around Community Street Checks. Shortly thereafter, Chief Glenn De Caire refused to implement an interim policy governing carding that was adopted from the Toronto Police Services Board.
* The Peel Police Services Board passed a recommendation that the chief stop carding, but the Chief Jennifer Evans said she will not follow their recommendation.
* On November 22, 2016, the London City Council
London City Council is the governing body of the city of London, Ontario, Canada.
Composition
London is divided into 14 wards, with residents in each ward electing one councillor. The mayor is elected citywide, who along with the councillors for ...
formally asked Chief of Police John B. Pare to ban the London Police Service practice of random street checks.
On August 13, 2015, the London diversity and race relations advisory committee met to discuss carding practices in the city, though the London Police Service officer dedicated to race relations did not attend the meeting.
In the 2016/2017 Annual Report for the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, the British Columbia Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner cited ongoing concerns with the collection of identifying information by police, and expressed an expectation that either the Vancouver Police Board or the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...
would create a policy on carding. On June 14, 2018, Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer ordered an investigation into complaints from the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs that carding practices are unfairly targeting minorities. A public report will be submitted to the Vancouver Police Board September 20, 2018.
On September 18, 2017, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (the “Commission”) was established in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1967 to administer the Nova Scotia ''Human Rights Act''. The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission is the first commission in Canada to engage ...
selected an independent expert, Dr. Scot Wortley, of the University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies to undertake an investigation into the Halifax Regional Police Service's use of street checks and the impact such checks may have on the Black community, the final report is expected in the Fall of 2018. On March 27, 2019, the ''Halifax, Nova Scotia: Street Checks Report'' was tabled at the Halifax Central Library
The Halifax Central Library is a public library in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located on the corner of Spring Garden Road and Queen Street in Downtown Halifax. It serves as the flagship library of the Halifax Public Libraries, repla ...
. The report notes that "Every year from 2006 to 2017, Black people have been five to six times more likely to appear in street check statistics than their representation in the general population would predict."
On June 6, 2018, the Saskatchewan Police Commission created policy OC 150 Contact Interviews with the Public,[ which constrains carding based on an individuals race or location.] On September 21, 2018, Saskatoon police Chief Troy Cooper rejected requests from University of Saskatchewan
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
law professor Glen Luther to record the race of carded individuals, stating "We know that people and agencies that have tried to do that get a lot of inaccurate data because it relies on the officer's description and perception of race, and that's often inaccurate". On October 5, 2018, Saskatoon police Chief Troy Cooper stated that Saskatoon police officers will soon be trained in how to conduct contact interviews.
In 2017, the Edmonton Police Association
The Edmonton Police Association (E.P.A.) is a Labour Union, labour union in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada that represents members of the Edmonton Police Service.
History Early history
The Edmonton Police Force was founded in 1892; however, it w ...
published an open letter to the city of Edmonton defending carding. CBC news stated that the letter was written "in response to recent data obtained by CBC Edmonton showing Edmonton police from 2012 to 2016 disproportionately stopped, questioned and documented people of colour who were not suspected of a crime." On June 27, 2018, the Edmonton Police Commission released the City of Edmonton Street Check Policy and Practice Review prepared by Curt Griffiths of the Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...
School of Criminology
Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
. On October 29, 2018, the Edmonton Police Service responded to the street check review. In this response, the service provided implementation dates for 7 of the 17 recommendations.
On December 31, 2018, the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General released the Report of the Independent Street Checks Review 2018 prepared by Judge Michael H. Tulloch of the Court of Appeal for Ontario
The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...
.
On January 4, 2019, the Ontario Provincial Police Association issued a press release stating that "racism and arbitrary street checks have no place in policing".
On March 13, 2019, the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners placed a request to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to review the legality of police street checks; the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission confirmed that J. Michael MacDonald, former Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal for Nova Scotia (Nova Scotia Court of Appeal or NSCA) is the highest appeal court in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. There are currently 8 judicial seats including one assigned to the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. At any g ...
, agreed to help with the review.
Regulation
On 16 June 2015, Ontario announced that it will develop a new regulation to regulate police street checks. The Ministry of the Solicitor General has held a series of five workshop-style public meetings across the province:
22 October 2015, during debate in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...
, Yasir Naqvi
Yasir Abbas Naqvi (born January 25, 1973) is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Ottawa Centre since the 2021 federal election, sitting as a Liberal. Prior to his election to the House of Commons, Naqvi wa ...
, minister of community safety and correctional services, announced that regulation banning random street checks would be in place by the end of the fall, and will become part of the Police Services Act of Ontario, and includes:
* Stronger guidelines for police who conduct street checks as part of an investigation or because of suspicious activity.
* Rules guaranteeing that charter rights are protected for anyone who is checked.
* Clear rules on how police can collect carding data, use the data, as well as the length of time the data can be stored.
On 28 October 2015, the Ministry of the Solicitor General, posted two draft regulations for public input on the random and arbitrary collection of identifying information by police. On 30 November 2015, a coalition of community organisations and individuals issued a joint response to the draft regulation, articulating a rights-based framework for policing aimed at prohibiting carding, which they deemed discriminatory against minorities in Canada.
On 8 December 2015, the Ontario Association of Chief of Police's Board of Directors unanimously passed a submission on Proposed Regulations to the Police Services Act: "Collection of Identifying Information in Certain Circumstances – Prohibition and Duties" and Proposed Amendments to the Schedule to O.Reg. 268/10 (Code of Conduct).
On 21 March 2016, the Ministry of the Solicitor General, filed Ontario Regulation 58/16: Collection of Identifying Information in Certain Circumstances – Prohibition and Duties, which sets out rules for carding. The Government of Ontario will also launch a multi-year academic study on the impact of carding.
On 24 March 2016, the African Canadian Legal Clinic, issued a press release stating that the new regulation "fails to fully and finally provide adequate protection for the fundamental rights and freedoms of African Canadians".
On 12 April 2016, the Board of Directors of the Toronto Police Association
The Toronto Police Association (TPA), founded in 1944, is a labour organization representing the approximately 5,500 uniformed and 2,500 civilian members of the Toronto Police Service in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While police officers in Ontari ...
, issued a memo to its membership stating that the new regulation is "counterproductive to proactive community engagement and crime prevention".
On 17 November 2016, the Toronto Police Services Board revised policy 250: Regulated Interaction with the Community and the Collection of Identifying Information
to ensure compliance with Ontario Regulation 58/16, the Police Services Act of Ontario, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Ontario Human Rights Code
The Human Rights Code is a statute in the Canadian province of Ontario that guarantees equality before the law and prohibits discrimination in specific social areas such as housing or employment. The code's goal specifically prohibits discrimina ...
, and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). In addition the policy restricted service members from accessing Historical Contact Data, except as needed to
provide an auditable trail as required by law (e.g. evidence in a matter before the courts).
On 17 May 2017, the Ministry of the Solicitor General appointed Justice Michael Tulloch
Michael H. Tulloch (born 1961/1962) is a Canadian judge. On December 19, 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the appointment of Tulloch as the new Chief Justice of Ontario. He is the first Black judge appointed to the Ontario Court of ...
of the Ontario Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...
to conduct an independent review of Ontario Regulation 58/16. Tulloch's report into the challenges and validity of police carding is expected to be produced in January 2019. As part of this review, twelve public consultations are to be held between 1 February 2018 and 23 April 2018 in the Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...
, and in Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...
, Brampton
Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipalit ...
, Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
, Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
, Markham Markham may refer to:
It may also refer to brand of of clothing which originates from South Africa which saw it's establishment in 1873.
Biology
* Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia
* ...
, Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
, London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
and Sudbury.
On 24 August 2017, Kathleen Ganley
Kathleen Teresa Ganley (born 1978) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Mountain View in the 30th Alberta Legislature. She was previously elected ...
, as Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta, announced that the government will begin a six-week consultation process for drafting provincial guidelines for police street checks and the associated collection of personally identifiable information. On 3 February 2019, David Khan, leader of the Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral de l'Alberta) is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election ...
, expressed disappointment that after 18 month, this process has not yet produced tangible results.
On 18 September 2017, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (the “Commission”) was established in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1967 to administer the Nova Scotia ''Human Rights Act''. The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission is the first commission in Canada to engage ...
hired University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
criminology professor Scot Wortley, to conduct an independent review of street checks conducted by the Halifax Regional Police
The Halifax Regional Police (HRP) is one of a number of law enforcement agencies operating in the Halifax, Nova Scotia; the other primaries being the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Forces Military Police. The city also is home to a ...
. The deadline for releasing findings was originally 7 January 2019, but this release has been postponed until 27 March 2019.
On 4 October 2017, Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers
Nathalie Des Rosiers (born 1959) is a lawyer, academic and former politician in Ontario, Canada. She is the 6th and current Principal of Massey College at the University of Toronto. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontar ...
(Ottawa—Vanier
Ottawa—Vanier (formerly known as Ottawa East) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1935. Previous to that date, it was part of the Ottawa electoral district ...
) introduced a private member's bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
(Bill 164, Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2017), which expands human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
protections in a number of ways, including making it illegal to discriminate against individuals that have been carded by police.
On 6 June 2018, the Saskatchewan Police Commission issued policy OC150 - Contact Interviews with the Public.
On 28 March 2019, the Attorney General and Justice Minister of Nova Scotia Mark Furey
Mark Ignatius Furey is a Canadian politician and retired police officer, who was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in the 2013 provincial election. A member of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party, he represented the electoral district of L ...
, issued a provincial moratorium on street check quotas, and the use of street checks as a performance measurement
Performance measurement is the process of collecting, analyzing and/or reporting information regarding the performance of an individual, group, organization, system or component.
Definitions of performance measurement tend to be predicated upon an ...
tool On 17 April 2019, Furey, issued a provincial moratorium on street checks.
15 January 2020, the Attorney General of British Columbia
The attorney general of British Columbia (AG) oversees the Ministry of Attorney General, a provincial government department responsible for the oversight of the justice system, within the province of British Columbia, Canada. The attorney general ...
introduced interim section 6.2.1 of the Provincial Policing Standards, requiring the police board or, in the case of the provincial police force, the commissioner, must officers with written policy that ensures interactions with community members, remain consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the values they reflect.
On 7 April 2021, the Justice Minister of Alberta Kaycee Madu
Kelechi "Kaycee" Madu (born ) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the deputy premier of Alberta and minister of skilled trades and professions since October 24, 2022. A member of the United Conservative Party (UCP), Madu has re ...
introduced Bill 63, the Police (Street Checks and Carding) Amendment Act, 2021.
Responses
In 2015, Christien Levien, a law school graduate, created Legalswipe, an app that draws from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association's "know your rights" handbook, and guides people through police encounters.
On 17 January 2017, University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
criminologists Anthony Doob and Rosemary Gartner presented a report "Understanding the impact of Police Stops" to the Toronto Police Services Board, among the conclusions was that benefits from carding are "substantially outweighed by convincing evidence of the harm of such practices both to the person subject to them and to the long term and overall relationship of the police to the community".
In April 2021, the Native Counselling Services of Alberta released a wallet-sized card to help Indigenous people know their rights if stopped by police
Variants
* In 2016, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, British Columbia, raised concerns that the Vancouver Police Department's Restaurant Watch program, also known as Bar Watch or the Inadmissible Patron Program, is a new form of street check or carding.
* On June 13, 2019, Jamal Boyce, a conflict studies and human rights student at the University of Ottawa, was carded and handcuffed by campus security
Campus police or university police in the United States and Canada are sworn police or peace officers employed by a college or university to protect that private property of the campus and surrounding areas and the people who live, work, and ...
for over two hours for not having identification. In response, on September 4, 2019, University of Ottawa President and Vice-Chancellor Jacques Frémont announced the revision of Policy 33, Section 8, which permits campus security to request proof of identity from people on campus.
* As of March 31, 2020, Ontario Regulation 114/20 made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act
The ''Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act'' is an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario that grants the Premier of Ontario and the Executive Council of Ontario the authority to declare a state of emergency. It was enacted on ...
requires individuals to provide identification upon demand from a provincial offences officer, which includes police officers
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
, First Nations constables, special constables and municipal by-law enforcement officers, failing to correctly identify oneself carries a fine of $750. The ''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' reported that some saw this a signaling a return to police carding. Unless it is extended, The order was revoked on June 30, 2020.
* On June 10, 2020, New Brunswick Public Safety Minister Carl Urquhart introduced Bill 49 - An Act to Amend the Emergency Measures Act. Section 7 augmented police authority to allow officers to stop, investigate, and document individuals without reason. In response to widespread criticism, on June 15, 2020, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, announced that the government would no longer proceed with Bill 49.
* In Alberta, under the ''Traffic Safety Act'', peace officers have the right to, without any reason, stop pedestrians using or located on a highway and request their names and addresses. They also have the right to arrest without a warrant anyone who fails to comply with "section 166(4) relating to the requirement that a pedestrian furnish to a peace officer who is readily identifiable as a peace officer the pedestrian's name and address when so required by the peace officer". There is a similar provision for passengers of vehicles. However, they need only provide their names and addresses, and may refuse requests for other information.
See also
* Stop and frisk
* Stop and search, a UK equivalent.
* Stop-and-frisk in New York City
Frisking (also called a patdown or pat down) is a search of a person's outer clothing wherein a person runs their hands along the outer garments of another to detect any concealed weapons or objects.
U.S. Law
In the United States, a law enforce ...
* Stop and identify statutes
"Stop and identify" statutes are laws in several U.S. states that authorize police to lawfully order people whom they reasonably suspect of a crime to state their name. If there is not reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed, is bei ...
* Sus law
In England and Wales, the sus law (from "suspected person") was a stop and search law that permitted a police officer to stop, search and potentially arrest people on suspicion of them being in breach of section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824. Acc ...
* Ticket quota
Ticket quotas are commonly defined as any establishment of a predetermined or specified number of traffic citations an officer must issue in a specified time. Some police departments may set "productivity goals" but deny specific quotas. In many ...
References
External links
*
* {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331015406/https://humanrights.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/editor-uploads/halifax_street_checks_report_march_2019_0.pdf/ , date=2019-03-31 , title=Halifax, Nova Scotia: Street Checks Report 2019
Canadian Civil Liberties Association's "know your rights" handbook
Legalswipe
Independent Street Checks Review
Law enforcement terminology
Toronto Police Service
Politics of Toronto
Law enforcement in Canada
Race-related controversies
Controversies in Canada
21st-century controversies
Crime prevention
Types of policing
Human rights abuses in Canada