“Only by embracing our diversity can we bring about positive change,” said Angela Connors during her keynote address at the Greater Sudbury Police International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination lunch.
Connors, an Objibwe leader and project manager for the non-profit Embracing Inclusion, delivered her speech in front of about 180 GSPS and community members Tuesday afternoon at the Caruso Club.
She spoke about the need for strong action to combat racism in every community.
“Racial discrimination will not be overcome with good intentions, with enthusiasm, or with excitement,” she said. “There are no innocent bystanders. Every single one of us must take it upon ourselves to make those connections, to identify racism, to stand up against discrimination in all its forms, and to take action.”
GSPS Chief Paul Pedersen opened his remarks by speaking about the incident that sparked March 21 to be recognized as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
On that day in 1960, police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration. They were protesting the government's apartheid pass laws — an internal passport system designed to segregate the population and restrict the movements of black citizens throughout the country.
Six years later, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the day and called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate racial discrimination.
“You think of how far we have come since then — we still hear all too often of instances of racism in Greater Sudbury today,” said Pedersen. “Our service truly does recognize that, in order to serve our community well, we need to hear the voices of the community.”
Pedersen pointed to the GSPS Diversity Advisory Committee, the Aboriginal Community and Advisory Panel (including an Aboriginal liaison officer), Chief's Youth Advisory Team and the Inclusion Team as steps the police service has taken to reach out to some of the more marginalized groups in the city.
The chief also touted the service's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women initiative, but was quick to point out police “are just passengers on this ride” and that they were taking their lead from members of the indigenous community, including the N'Swakamok Native Friendship Centre.
Pedersen later touched on one of the most contentious tactics police services across North America have used, and continue to use: carding.
Officially known as Community Contacts Policing, carding is an intelligence gathering technique where police stop, question and request documentation from individuals with no specific investigatory aim and without any probable cause that a crime has been committed.
The policy has come under intense scrutiny in recent years in cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Hamilton and Calgary.
While Pedersen did not take a particular stance on carding on this occasion, he did express his opinion on why the tactic has appeared in so many headlines.
“In my view, this became such an important topic not because police were speaking to people in suspicious circumstances — and I do think the public expects us to do that — but because disproportionately, across the province, people of colour, and mostly young black males, were being stopped, questioned and entered into our data banks,” Pedersen explained. “The issue was not one of intelligence gathering or proactive crime prevention, it was and is an issue of racial profiling.
“Certainly, I don't want to be seen as saying everyone in our profession engages in racial profiling,” Pedersen continued. “But, stereotyping or profiling in any way is wrong.”
For Connors, she equates working towards racial equality with riding a roller coaster — one moment, you're excited and, the next minute, you want to throw up.
In her impassioned final thoughts, she said that being ally of equality has to be more than a label — it has to include meaningful actions.
“So join me as I discard my 'ally' label and replace it with a more appropriate designation: that of an 'accomplice',” she said in closing.
