By Fareed Khan
After driving from
Manitoba in his pickup truck, Corey
Hurren, a white man in his 40s, arrived at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on July 2nd, where he used
his vehicle as a battering ram to break through the RCMP police check point
at the gates of the property where the Prime Minister and the Governor General
live, in order to (allegedly) harm or kill Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Following Hurren's arrest it was confirmed by
the RCMP that he was in possession of multiple firearms, including a handgun,
and that his arrest occurred without Hurren being physically harmed after RCMP
officers spent more than 90 minutes talking him down.
Contrast the RCMP
handling of a heavily armed and dangerous intruder near the residences of Canada’s
top two government officials and its outcome with the way that they and other police
forces across the country have handled encounters with Black, Indigenous and people
of colour (BIPOC). This year alone, on eight
occasions, Indigenous, Black and Brown Canadians have been shot and killed by
police, and none were in possession of a firearm at the time they died.
To BIPOC communities the
difference between how Hurren was treated and how they are treated is a clear
illustration of white privilege and racism in policing. Nothing else could explain why police were
willing to take greater care and patience dealing with a heavily armed white
man bent on violence against the PM than they do when dealing with unarmed Indigenous
and racialized individuals.
Since the beginning of
2020 there have been 11 documented cases of police
shootings resulting in the death of civilians. In June alone there were
three instances where Indigenous people and a person of colour were shot by
police. Neither Chantal
Moore, Rodney
Levi, nor Ejaz
Choudry were in possession of firearms and yet the police used deadly
force, while Hurren was heavily armed and police dealt with him without firing
a shot.
Since the killing of George Floyd by a
Minneapolis police officer in May, police forces in Canada have been under intense scrutiny for their use of force in
encounters with BIPOC. According to an analysis
conducted by CTV and released in June, of the last 100 people killed by police
dating back to January 2017, 38 percent of the shooting victims were
Indigenous and 9 percent were Black, even though they represented 5 percent and
3 percent of the population respectively.
The fact that the number of non-white victims of police shootings are
disproportionately higher than their numbers in the general population is not a
new revelation. But when examining police-civilian
encounters in Canada, the security incident
at Rideau Hall implies if not clearly illustrates the presence of white
privilege and racial discrimination in policing in a way that statistics
cannot.
It is apparent from the
history of police encounters with civilians, that individuals who are BIPOC
more frequently face violence and a violation of their rights at the hands of
police than do white people. For years academics, researchers and
activists have been saying it is because of racism embedded in police culture. What else would explain the way a
heavily armed white intruder who violently breached the perimeter of Rideau
Hall was treated, and it begs the question what would have been the outcome if
he had been Indigenous or Black or Muslim?
The Rideau Hall incident
has strengthened calls for a comprehensive restructuring and review of how
policing is done to eliminate an apparent culture of white privilege and racism
under which police seem to operate. In
addition, activists are demanding that significant resources be shifted from
policing to programs that deal with social problems in the community that could
lead to individuals facing off against police (with deadly results).
If
demonstrations across the country are any indication, Canadians are unwilling
to continue with policing as usual. The
disproportionate police shootings and violent encounters between police and
BIPOC needs to stop. The image of how
police treated Hurren, compared to those who are BIPOC, will fuel even more
anger towards police if reforms aren’t undertaken and if issues of racism in policing
aren’t addressed. We must heed calls for police reform, and the work needs
to begin now.
©
2020 The View From Here. © 2020 Fareed
Khan. All Rights Reserved.
