I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on the recent recognition of police misconduct and brutality in the context of what happened to George Floyd and the #BlackLivesMatter protests. It’s been absolutely horrifying to see what’s happening in the US, and the degree to which the police have been attacking peaceful protestors and escalating protests into violent confrontations. At first, there seemed to be a theme of people thinking this could never happen in Canada. Gradually over the course of the last week, that seems to have evolved as examples of systemic racism and police brutality in Canada, particularly against Black and Indigenous people, are highlighted and shared more widely.

Last week there was the troubling incident in Toronto of 29-year-old Black woman Regis Korchinski-Paquet going over the balcony from the 24th floor after six police officers showed up at her door. Four days ago, Chantel Moore, a 26 year old originally from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation near Tofino, B.C was shot 5 times by police in New Brunswick after there was a request for a wellness check. There’s the case of Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation who says he was brutally beaten by the RCMP (seems hard to argue otherwise if you’ve seen the photos) and there’s a photo that surfaced of two officers smiling while holding an intoxicated, shirtless man in handcuffs in Edmonton. There’s been increased recognition of the ‘Starlight Tours’ where Indigenous people were picked up by RCMP and dropped miles from their homes / towns and left to freeze to death, often with their shoes taken away from them for their ‘walks’. Then of course there’s the anniversary of the final report on the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), and little action that’s been taken since then.

However, two separate events hit close to home and prompted me to want to share a personal story about my Dad. The first was the outrage and painful trigger when police were caught on video pushing a 75-year-old man to the ground in Buffalo and second when Druh Farrell, City Councillor in Calgary felt the need to apologize on Twitter for Tweeting about police brutality and domestic violence in law enforcement families. Her choice of words may not have been the best but the outrage that resulted, as if this doesn’t happen in Calgary, I find troubling and problematic.

Let me begin by saying of course there are kind-hearted, empathetic police officers who have never and will never abuse their power or assault people. However, those that do, and those who stay silent about these events have to be held accountable, enough is enough. It’s absurd to think this doesn’t happen in Canada and more specifically in Calgary.

Nine years ago, my Dad was assaulted by Calgary Police officers just before his 85^th birthday. He saw someone broken down and stopped to help a stranger by towing him. He was pulled over by Calgary Police for having improper towing gear. I imagine my Dad was a bit perplexed about the level of harassment the Calgary Police officers were engaged in, given in his mind, he was only trying to do a good deed. After exiting the vehicle, he was pushed to the ground by a young officer. He hit his head on the bumper of the vehicle, had his hearing aids knocked out, broke his glasses, and was scratched up from the concrete and gravel he landed on. He was so shaken after, and likely concussed, he was unable to drive for quite some time. He sat in his vehicle while the police watched him. They continued to watch him until he was able to drive away, presumably to ensure he didn’t ’cause any more trouble’.

Something really bad happened

My Dad to my Mom after being assaulted by a Calgary Police Officer

My mom came home to find my Dad traumatized. “Something really bad happened” is what he told her. He was injured from the assault, went to a walk-in clinic and was advised to report the assault by the police to the police (no irony there). I was furious, I wanted them to get a lawyer and for the officer to be held accountable. My parents however, have been ‘don’t rock the boat types’ for most of their lives, likely because of the discrimination they’ve experienced in the past. They opted for mediation where the Calgary Police had lawyers present (my parents did not). My parents were forced to endure the young officer continually justifying his actions because of the presumed ‘threat’ my father posed to him. My parents were forced to sign NDAs and to agree not to talk about the incident. We don’t know if any disciplinary action resulted for the officers involved, likely not. When my parents were asked what they wanted out of the situation, they indicated they ‘wanted an apology and for it to never happen again’.

• 

We want it to never happen again . . .

My parents’ comment to Calgary Police during mediation

It should be clear, IT has happened again. It continues to happen. Police misconduct, abuse of power, and brutality has to stop.

You may read this thinking, that was nine years ago, surely things have improved since then? Perhaps, but last year an Indigenous woman I know was thrown to the ground over something that happened in a lineup to the Cowboys tent during Stampede. I am certain that neither my Father nor my Friend, posed any ‘threat’ to police or anyone else in either of these situations. She was traumatized and shared her experience on Facebook.

The thing was, my Dad was traumatized too. He was never really the same after that. He lived another 5 years and died at 90 but he had lost his spark after this incident. Trauma has that effect on people.

I’m happy to see the thousands of people out protesting and marching in support of Black Lives Matter in Alberta. I hope we’ll also see the same level of outrage against the violence that continues against Indigenous people, other Persons of Colour, Women and LGBTQ2S+ in Canada.  

I finally saw an article come out yesterday suggesting that ‘Canadians shocked by George Floyd’s death should face up to the Indigenous struggles here at home’.

I hope maybe you will pause and consider that much of what the police do, would be better performed by Social Workers, Mental Health supports and other types of outreach workers. I will be sending a letter to my City Councillor about defunding the police and concerns about this type of Police conduct. Here is a link to a template I found for Calgary you can use as a starting point (here’s a link to one my friend Max shared for Toronto). Max also shared a link to an eBook that is currently available for free by Verso on The End of Policing.

Violence, Police Brutality, and Systemic Racism are public health crises. As I get ready to return to clinical rotations a week from now after our Covid hiatus, I hope I’m entering clinical environments acutely aware of this.

Thank you to those on the front lines in all disciplines, including police, that serve with honour and deserve our utmost respect. To those that don’t, I hope recent events will be a wakeup call.

p.s., June 8 another story comes out about excessive force by Calgary Police in Calgary with video from October and another from Edmonton with knee on neck tactic that killed George Floyd.