Executive Summary

 

Introduction

We have heard the accounts for decades – stories of harm, conflict and fear resulting from anti-Black racism in policing. Some incidents received local, national or global media attention. Others, perhaps more damaging, did not capture the headlines, but are simply shared between friends or within communities.

For all members of society, these accounts can bring sadness, anger or shame. But for Black communities, the impact and pain caused by discriminatory policing run deeper. These are not stories – they are lived experiences.

The impacts of discriminatory policing are exponential in their effects. Racial profiling leads to a police stop. The police stop leads to a record. The record affects an employment opportunity. The stops compound, as the person slowly becomes someone who is “known to police.” The threat of physical harm looms, while every stop increases the chance of a charge, then an arrest. Every charge is a potential conviction, every conviction is potential incarceration. Another life turned upside-down. Another family broken. Another community ravaged.

These are the systemic effects of anti-Black racism.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) launched its Inquiry into anti-Black racism by the Toronto Police Service (TPS) in response to these experiences that Black communities have repeatedly identified over many decades.

In Ontario’s human rights system, the OHRC does not make legally binding determinations of Human Rights Code (Code) violations or liability – only the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) can do that. But s. 31 of the Code gives the OHRC the power to initiate inquiries such as this one, to help identify and promote the elimination of discriminatory practices in Ontario.

To fulfill its statutory mandate, the OHRC must identify circumstances that, in its view, amount to discrimination, and make recommendations to help organizations eliminate those practices.

Through this Inquiry, the OHRC has sought to determine how anti-Black racism in society – a fact recognized by the courts and the police – has expressed itself in the policing of Black lives in Toronto. The Inquiry undertook a detailed examination of the experiences of Black people interacting with police in Toronto, and has been unique in gathering hard data together with the lived experiences of Black communities.

Based on the OHRC’s review of the facts, including the data, the lived experiences of Black communities, and case law, the OHRC finds that Black people are subjected to systemic racial discrimination, racial profiling, and anti-Black racism. Interviews with the TPS and Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) and a review of thousands of pages of documents revealed gaps in TPS and TPSB policies, procedures, training, and accountability mechanisms that have helped perpetuate discrimination and contributed to mistrust of police among Black people.

As our consultations made clear, Black communities do not simply need another report with recommendations. The OHRC’s final report on its Inquiry into anti-Black racism by the TPS sets out a path to move From Impact to Action – a path of meaningful actions aimed at changing outcomes for Black communities.

 

Systemic discrimination

What does systemic discrimination mean?

Systemic discrimination is about the systems that organizations have in place which, while they may appear to be neutral on their face, create impacts that perpetuate and exacerbate disadvantage experienced by a historically marginalized group. Systemic discrimination is sometimes hard to see – but the impacts are real.

Systemic discrimination occurs in the context of broader societal forces. An organization such as the TPS or TPSB is unlikely to be the only source of the disadvantage experienced by a group. However, the Code requires those organizations to take steps to ensure their conduct is not perpetuating the disadvantage.

In some instances, discriminatory police conduct experienced by Black persons may be individualized and direct – motivated by explicit racial animus or implicit, subconscious racial bias. In these cases, the TPS and TPSB have a legal obligation under the Code to establish systems – training, accountability, oversight – to address this conduct when it occurs and/or prevent it from occurring in the future.

In other cases, systemic discrimination can arise not from an individual act, but from the structure of the system itself – for example, by deploying greater policing resources to an area marked as “high crime” when those crime statistics were themselves a product of racial profiling and anti-Black racism.

Whether through overt actions of officers, or through systemic over-policing of a community, in these cases there may not be a “bad apple” at whom to point fingers. It is simply how the system works. But that does not make the impact any less harmful to the Black people who experience it. Nor does it remove the Code obligation of the TPS or TPSB to address it.

Individual and systemic racial discrimination are also linked. Discrimination arising from an individual’s bias can have a broader, systemic impact, and may contribute to racial disproportionalities.   

There does not need to be any explicit or implicit racial bias for systemic discrimination to exist. If providing policing services exacerbates the disadvantage faced by Black people in Toronto, then it is discriminatory. And once discriminatory impacts have been identified, as they have been here, the Code requires organizations to take immediate steps to address and remedy those failings.

 

Background to the Inquiry

The OHRC is the provincial statutory agency responsible for advancing human rights and preventing systemic discrimination in Ontario.

In 2017, the OHRC launched its Inquiry into anti-Black racism by the TPS. The Inquiry’s terms of reference directed staff to examine TPS policing practices and activities between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2017 to assess whether those practices disproportionately affect Black people, and whether the conduct is consistent with racial profiling and racial discrimination against Black people.

The Inquiry examined TPS and TPSB culture, training, policies, programs, procedures, and accountability mechanisms relating to racial profiling and racial discrimination. Finally, the Inquiry examined how the TPS and TPSB respond to findings by the HRTO, civil and criminal courts that police officers engaged in racial discrimination or racial profiling, or where such inferences reasonably flowed from the findings. This aspect of the Inquiry extended beyond 2017, and references in this report to TPS and TPSB initiatives and materials are current as of time of writing, i.e., July 2023.

The OHRC retained Dr. Scot Wortley, PhD (Professor and Graduate Coordinator, Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto) to provide expert assistance with the Inquiry. His role included analyzing data obtained by the OHRC from the TPS and Special Investigations Unit (SIU), as well as survey data.

On December 10, 2018, the OHRC released its first interim report, A Collective Impact, which included Dr. Wortley’s findings from SIU data, case-law review, review of the SIU Director Reports, and the results of the OHRC’s consultation with 130 members of Black communities across Toronto.

On August 10, 2020, the OHRC released A Disparate Impact, which included two reports from Dr. Wortley analyzing TPS data related to charges, arrests and releases, and police use of force.

From Impact to Action, the OHRC’s final Inquiry report, reflects our work with Black communities and the TPS and TPSB. It sets out a path to meaningful actions aimed at changing outcomes for Black communities. It is also a culmination of the work reported in A Collective Impact and A Disparate Impact.

From the outset, From Impact to Action makes the finding that Black people are subjected to systemic racial discrimination, racial profiling, and anti-Black racism by the TPS. This finding is supported by the evidence gathered throughout the Inquiry, which clearly establishes that services provided by the TPS have a disproportionate negative impact¹ on Black communities. The evidence includes:

• voices from Black communities
• reports on anti-Black racism 
• OHRC and TPS statistical analyses
• voices of TPS officers
• the courts
• acknowledgement by the TPS of anti-Black racism.

The report describes the results of consultations, including a policy roundtable of policing experts and community representatives, a TPS officer survey, and direct engagement with Black communities. The OHRC also conducted interviews with members of the TPS senior command, including the Chief of the TPS, the Chair of the TPSB, and the Executive Director of the TPSB.

The report also identifies gaps in TPS and TPSB policies and procedures in:

• stops and searches
• charges and arrests
• use of force
• anti-racism initiatives and training, and
• monitoring and accountability.

Finally, the report identifies recommendations to fill these gaps and address systemic anti-Black racism.

The OHRC is grateful for the time, patience, participation, strength, and courage of members of Black communities. Despite decades of frustration and trauma, Black communities remained engaged in this process. We heard personal stories, insightful critiques, and forward-thinking ideas that were shared with the expectation that this Inquiry will lead to meaningful change. We are immensely thankful for each of these engagements, which have greatly informed this report.

We also express gratitude to the rank-and-file officers, including Black officers, who spoke to us and are committed to ensuring this report will result in concrete change and not be “just another report.”

The OHRC extends sincere thanks to the TPS, TPSB and Toronto Police Association (TPA) leadership, and the volunteers who make up their advisory committees, including the TPSB’s Anti-Racism Advisory Panel (ARAP) and Mental Health and Addictions Advisory Committee (MHAAP), for their time and co-operation.

The OHRC acknowledges that policing is a complex and difficult endeavour. The situations and circumstances front-line officers face daily can result in tremendous pressure and strain.

This report is intended to shed light on critical flaws in our public safety and policing systems. However, it should not be perceived as condemnation of all officers. Indeed, in many circumstances, officers are asked to deal with matters for which they are not equipped or qualified – leading to various unfortunate results.

In a recent report on the review of the TPS, the City of Toronto’s then-Auditor General, Beverly Romeo-Beehler, observed:²

[TPS] plays a key role in ensuring the safety and well-being of the people of Toronto through its delivery of policing services. As first responders, TPS officers are on the front lines and respond to a variety of situations. However, not all of the calls for service that TPS has historically responded to are police matters.

In responding to these calls for service, TPS has effectively become the default response in some situations when alternative non-police responses are not in place or not available when needed.

 

Anti-Black racism in policing in Toronto

The OHRC finds that Black people are subjected to systemic racial discrimination, racial profiling, and anti-Black racism in TPS policing services.

The OHRC has identified six cornerstones that support our finding that TPS policing services have a disproportionate negative impact³ on Black communities.

 

Voices from Black communities

The OHRC met with approximately 190 individuals from Black communities. They told the OHRC about their negative lived experiences with TPS officers, across the spectrum of interactions including stops, searches, charges, arrests, and use of force.

After the release of A Collective Impact and A Disparate Impact, the OHRC continued to document experiences of Black people involving unnecessary stops, questioning, searches, charges, arrests, and excessive force.

 

Findings related to intersecting identities

Black communities with intersecting identities and experiences (e.g., people living with mental health disabilities and/or belonging to LGBTQ2S+ communities) have had unique and often difficult relationships with the TPS for decades.

The OHRC acknowledges that multiple and intersecting identities can compound the causes, frequency, and intensity of anti-Black racism for the people who experience it. This report touches on some of these intersections and highlights the unique nature of these experiences.

 

Reports on anti-Black racism

International and Canadian reports confirm systemic anti-Black racism in policing in Canada.⁴

There are also reports commissioned by the TPS and TPSB that confirm Black people are subjected to systemic racial discrimination, racial profiling, and anti-Black racism in policing services provided by the TPS.⁵

These reports have confirmed the adverse experiences of Black people in their interactions with Toronto police over many years, and echo repeated calls for change.⁶

 

OHRC and TPS statistical analysis

Racial disparities in data gathered by the OHRC in TPS charges, arrests, and use of force were thoroughly analyzed by Dr. Wortley and his team in the Inquiry’s interim reports, A Collective Impact⁷ and A Disparate Impact.⁸ This current report From Impact to Action includes:

• analysis of TPS street check data and qualitative research and survey data on stops and searches,⁹ and
• analysis of additional benchmarking of TPS charge, arrest, and use-of-force data in an addendum to the expert report featured in A Disparate Impact.¹⁰

These reports affirm that Black people are significantly overrepresented across the spectrum of policing interactions in TPS data gathered by the OHRC, specifically including street checks, charges, arrests, and use of force. Black people are also significantly overrepresented in qualitative and survey data on police stops and searches in Toronto.

The TPS’s analysis of more recent data also revealed that Black people are overrepresented in TPS “enforcement actions,” use of force, and strip searches.¹¹   

While there may be other contributing factors to the OHRC’s and TPS’s findings, many racial disparities are particularly indicative of systemic racism, racial profiling, and anti-Black racism in TPS policing services, such as racial disparities that result from proactive police activity or highly discretionary charges.¹²

Indeed, “regardless of the confluence of factors, police services – and other actors in the justice system and government – have an obligation to proactively tackle systemic inequalities that impact” Black people.¹³

 

Voices of TPS officers

The OHRC reached out to officers through interviews and a public call at the Inquiry’s launch, and a service-wide communication sent to all officers. We received feedback on topics including but not limited to: police culture, training, policies, procedures, accountability mechanisms relating to racial profiling and discrimination, and the relationship between the TPS and Black communities.

Several recurring issues emerged, centred on two broad themes, which support the OHRC’s finding:

• a culture of racism and racial discrimination
• anti-Black racism and racial discrimination in providing services to the public and in employment.

A Black officer summarized TPS culture as: “… if you are pro diversity, equity and inclusion – it means you are anti-White … Our biggest problem is our culture. There’s no sense of urgency for the culture to be different.”

 

The courts

Case law analyzed by the OHRC confirms systemic racial discrimination, anti-Black racism, and individual racial discrimination of Black people in policing.

The Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice have all acknowledged the existence of anti-Black racism in our criminal justice system, including within the TPS. Multiple trial courts and human rights tribunals have also found instances of racial discrimination and/or profiling by the TPS.¹⁴

 

Acknowledgement by the TPS of anti-Black racism

Over the past five years, the TPS, TPSB, and City of Toronto have acknowledged that racism exists in policing. These acknowledgements confirm the OHRC’s finding.

In June 2022, then-Interim Police Chief James Ramer acknowledged and apologized for systemic racism. Chief Ramer stated that the results of the TPS’s analysis of 2020 data on use of force and strip searches confirmed what Black communities have been telling the TPS:¹⁵ 

That they are disproportionately over-policed. This data demonstrates the unfortunate realities of those experiences. As an organization, we have not done enough to ensure that every person in our city receives fair and unbiased policing. For this, as Chief of Police and on behalf of the Service, I am sorry and I apologize unreservedly.

…

With the release of the initial results of this report and ongoing work, I recognize that today will be a difficult day for many within the Service and within the communities we serve.

It is difficult for the Toronto Police Service because our own analysis of our data from 2020 discloses that there is systemic discrimination in our policing in these areas. That is that there is a disproportionate impact experienced by racialized people and, particularly those from Black communities when there is a use-of-force interaction with the Toronto Police Service.

 

Gaps in TPS and TPSB policies, procedures, training, and accountability mechanisms

There are significant issues with TPS and TPSB policies, procedures, training, and accountability mechanisms that helped perpetuate systemic racial discrimination, and contributed to mistrust of police among Black people. They include:

• TPSB policies and TPS procedures do not adequately guide officer discretion to stop and search people.

• The TPS and TPSB did not purge historical street check data, much of which is the product of racial profiling.

• TPSB policies and TPS procedures do not provide sufficient guidance to officers to determine whether to lay charges, arrest, or use alternatives.

• The TPSB and TPS did not develop a distinct policy or procedure on racial profiling.

• Anti-Black racism training is not sufficiently integrated into other TPS training programs using scenario-driven, experiential learning modules, and is not effectively evaluated.

• Race-based data is not being collected, analyzed, or reported on:
• all stops, including investigative detentions, protective searches (formerly Level 1 searches), and frisk searches (formerly Level 2)
• use of force that results in physical injury that does not require medical attention.

• The TPSB’s policy on race-based data prohibits race-based data from being used in officer performance management. The TPS’s early intervention system does not include race-based data.

• Findings in cases were not treated adequately by the TPS and TPSB from a disciplinary perspective, including:
• cases where racial profiling or racial discrimination was found by the HRTO and courts
• cases where an inference may be drawn that there was racial profiling or racial discrimination in criminal cases with Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) violations that did not assess whether there was racial profiling or racial discrimination.

• Recommendations of the Auditor General and Ombudsman Toronto – including in a review of the implementation of 81 recommendations of the Police Reform Report – are not legally enforceable.

 

Recent steps taken by the TPS and TPSB to build trust with Black communities and address systemic racial discrimination

The OHRC recognizes that the TPSB and the TPS have taken important steps since the Inquiry was launched to build trust with Black communities and address systemic racial discrimination and its intersections in policing services. For example:

• Then-interim Chief Ramer apologized for systemic racism in 2022.¹⁶

• The TPSB passed its Policy on Race-Based Data Collection, Analysis and Public Reporting in 2019, which requires race-based data collection, analysis, and reporting on a wide variety of interactions.¹⁷

• The TPS analyzed 2020 race-based data on use of force and strip searches, and committed to the implementation of 38 resulting action items. The TPS’s analysis went beyond the requirements of the regulation under the Anti-Racism Act.¹⁸

• The TPS’s new use-of-force procedure and the TPSB’s draft use-of-force policy, both of which were developed in 2022, require that, among other things:
• de-escalation be continuously considered and used where possible, and
• officers intervene where they witness inappropriate or excessive force used by another officer, and report it to their supervisor.¹⁹

• The TPSB adopted the 81 recommendations from its 2020 report on Police Reform in Toronto: Systemic Racism, Alternative Community Safety and Crisis Response Models and Building New Confidence in Public Safety (Police Reform Report).²⁰

• The TPSB’s new collaborative and consultative approach to policy development, which was used to inform the development of the TPSB’s body-worn and race-based data collection policies.

• The TPS and TPSB’s  consultation and cooperation with the OHRC.

These steps represent genuine progress by the TPS and TPSB toward positive change. It is important to note that such progress was made possible by sustained pressure from Black communities and a social movement demanding change. It also reflects pressure from the OHRC’s two interim Inquiry reports, years of previous recommendations made by the OHRC, and above-mentioned collaboration with the OHRC.  

 

Remedying systemic discrimination requires systemic change

Sometimes systemic change can be achieved through better anti-discrimination training or policies.

But in some cases, the structure as a whole must be questioned because it is flawed in a way that must be remedied to ensure the cycle of systemic discrimination is broken.

Reimagining the police is at the heart of community calls for “de-tasking and defunding.” It asks: if current systems keep harming Black people, is it not fair to consider whether the structure of the system itself is broken?

As explained by experts, these concepts are about recognizing that many social problems are better addressed by non-policing methods, and ensuring police officers are encouraged and permitted to respond to and address issues for which they are adequately trained.

The OHRC has developed 107 recommendations to address systemic anti-Black racism. The OHRC is committed to holding the TPS and TPSB accountable for implementing them through independent monitoring and legal enforceability.²¹

The OHRC’s recommendations include:

• destroying historical street check data

• providing guidance in policies and procedures on alternatives to charges and arrests
• this includes and builds on an officer’s discretion to use informal warnings, cautions, or diversion programs

• requiring supervisory approval and/or equity audits of charges

• expanding circumstances where officers should not use deadly force or shoot

• expanding the collection, analysis, and reporting of race-based data on stop, searches, charges, arrests, and use of force

• enhancing the early intervention system to include, among other things, race-based data

• providing greater transparency on officer discipline

• taking proactive investigative steps following decisions of the HRTO and courts of racial profiling, racial discrimination, or violations of the Charter

• integrating scenario-based training on anti-Black racism into other training programs with effective evaluation

• developing a distinct policy or procedure on racial profiling.

Some of the OHRC’s recommendations require provincewide action, such as:

• Recommendation 87 on limiting officer discretion to approach individuals in non-arrest scenarios)

• Recommendation 88 on Crown pre-charge screening

• Recommendation 91 on a public review of whether there are situations where officers can be deployed with non-lethal weapons instead of guns.

Other recommendations can be acted upon by the TPS and TPSB, although Ontario would benefit if similar actions were taken across the province, such as:

• Recommendations 40–49 on training
• Recommendations 53–60 on data collection.

The OHRC recommends that the TPSB engage with the provincial government accordingly. 

 

Conclusion

This report is the first of its kind. It combines quantitative analysis of hard data with the experiences of Black people, chronicling the extensive and long-standing harm suffered by Black communities as a result of discriminatory policing over many decades. The impacts of such harm at a societal level are incalculable. The evidence of systemic racial discrimination and anti-Black racism cannot be ignored.

To ensure real change, the TPS and TPSB must commit to specific, systemic, and concrete actions that are legally enforceable. The decades of reports and calls for action from Black communities show that if the TPSB and TPS are committed to change, they must legally bind themselves to that change.

The TPS and TPSB can take decisive action to end this cycle. They can build trust with the communities they serve and move From Impact to Action.

 

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Endnotes

[1] See Chapter 4 – Consultations with Black communities, community agencies, and police.