Ok. Today I'm brought back down to earth a little bit. I still think Canada is the greatest country in the world, but, if we're going to target a problem.. look no further than our Human Rights Tribunals.
Apparently, when you see someone acting as a letter carrier, who, after appearing to deliver mail to a house, goes back to that same house.. if as a police officer you stop and politely ask him for identification to make sure it's not someone simply "acting" like a mail carrier, you are a racist.
Ontario's Human Rights tribunal says so.
And they say it doesn't matter if you didn't mean to be racist, even if your action is unintentionally racist, you are being a racist.
Yup.
Read about it in the National Post here.
I am no neophyte to dealing with police. As a lawyer, I have seen the good and the bad in my day, and have a good enough relationship with some to have had some conversations over a beer that suggest that some officers have some issues regarding race or gender. And some lawyers have issues, and some teachers have issues, and some bricklayers have issues.. etc., etc., etc.
That being said - is THIS officer guilty of racist conduct because the complainant FELT discriminated against?
My advice to Metro Toronto Police, and Boston Police, and, perhaps police all over is this:
Stop arresting or investigating visible minorities. Look the other way. Unless you see someone actually and clearly committing a crime, you had best just keep on driving by. If you hear broken glass, and see someone running hell-bent down the street shortly after, just waive as they pass you unless they are white. Actually, don't bother asking questions if they are white either, because they might be gay. Or Jewish. Or Handicapped. Or a member of the NDP.
Just as Canadians are quietly allowing our Federal government pass criminal law legislation which has questionable benefit and which continues to encroach upon our fundamental freedoms, so we can be "safer", at the same time, we're telling our police, "We want to be safe, but not if you have to offend someone."
So. Officer Shaw - you get paid by the hour, not by the arrest. Don't put yourself in a position like this ever again. Arrest people who you SEE committing an offence. Actually, never mind, because even if you THINK they committed an offence, you know, someone like me, a lawyer, might help them get acquitted, and then, well, you're faced with having arrested someone who was "innocent" and, well, you could be called on the carpet to be accused of racism, or sexism, or anti-Semitism, or some other "ism".
Better yet to drink your coffee, eat your doughnuts, and look the other way.
At least in Metro Toronto. Or Boston.
3 comments:
"However, I find that on a balance of probabilities, the fact that the applicant was an African Canadian in an affluent neighbourhood was a factor, a significant factor, and probably the predominant factor, whether consciously or unconsciously, in Constable Shaw’s actions."
This bothers me bigtime.Thought crime. The HRC trying to stir up unwanted turmoil?Keep an eye on these HRC or shut them down.
You're obsessed with Ontario, Rob.
Have you ever been stopped by the police for "suspicious behaviour?" If so, you should know how it feels.
These issues are much more important when it comes to the police because we all agree to confer on them special powers that no else has.
I look at this on the flip-side. Let's say the officers did just pass the man by because he was wearing a Canada Post uniform... Several hours later (or perhaps days), it becomes known that someone was impersonating a Mail Carrier in order to access properties and/or case the joints for later. The person steals or destroys property and upon further investigation, it is discovered that two police officers were in the vicinity earlier, saw the man a couple of times, but did not approach him and just let him go on his merry way. Would the home owners cry foul at that and say the police weren't doing their jobs?? You bet some (or all) of them would be.
It reminds me of a movie I saw recently where LL Cool J plays a police officer. He arrests a black man in some old neighbourhood and on the way to his cruiser, a woman starts yelling at him from her yard, berating him for 'arresting a brotha'. He calls back something like "Let's see what you say about him when he breaks into YOUR house next time".
Much like the Gates case. What if it wasn't Prof Gates in there and the officer took the man at his word and walked away. Gates comes home to find his house ransacked and pilfered... he finds out the police were there earlier and did not question the man they saw in the house. There would be hell to pay for that. You can't win - do something, get berated. Don't do something, and risk outrage for not doing your job properly.
Post a Comment