Racial Profiling Issues in Canada - Essay Example

RACIAL PROFILING IN CANADA Racial profiling is an important issue both in Canada and around the world. Some argue that racial profiling is prevalent and that certain groups such as blacks, aboriginals, Asians and other groups are more likely to be pulled over by police or to be stopped and searched. While statistics on racial profiling United States appear to be far more accessible than they are here in Canada, the issue of racial profiling in this country has recently garnered much attention due to a media focus on the issue. With the aim of providing a thorough and comprehensive overview of this criminal justice and social inequality issue, the following will explore racial profiling in the Canadian context. Arguing that racial profiling does exist within Canadian law enforcement and that colorblind justice in this country is an idea which is not yet been attained, the following will address the racial profiling issue in holistic perspective. This research paper will begin with an introduction to racial profiling, both in Canada and throughout the world and will discuss what has been done to address this issue from a social policy perspective. While both descriptive and prescriptive, a significant portion of this research paper will explain what should be done in order to address this problem within Canadian law enforcement. Accordingly, this research paper will advocate a public policy which will address issues of criminal justice and social inequality with the aim of tackling racial profiling in this country. As with United States, racial profiling is an important issue which has garnered much media attention but which remains problematic for visible minorities as well as for the police services in this country. The following now turns to introduction to racial profiling. Introduction According to the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, racial profiling is defined as “as "the practice of police and other law enforcement officers relying, to any degree, on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin as the basis for subjecting persons to investigatory activities or for determining whether an individual is engaged in criminal activity" (United Nations Commission for Human Rights, 2009). Although many would like to think that racial profiling is a thing of the past, the issue of racial profiling by police services was brought to the fore of international media attention with the arrest of African-American Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Junior. His arrest was quite controversial and was predicated on the fact that Prof. Henry Gates was arrested outside his own home after a neighbor called and said that an African-American male was attempting to break into the home. When the police arrived, Prof. Gates stated that he was he ordered the property and accuse the police officers on hand of racism he was arrested and the issue of his arrest garnered incredible media attention. Accordingly, American President Barack Obama, the first African-American president in history of this country, waded into the dispute and controversially stated “There is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately." (BBC, 2009). President Obama did garner significant controversy for weighing into the matter and he eventually invited both the arrested African-American professor and the arresting White officer to the White House for beer to settle the matter. While the president sought to resolve the controversial issue, racial profiling remains an important issue in the United States as well as around the world. A recent study undertaken in Kingston, Ontario found that young black men, as will aboriginals, were more likely to be stopped by police then any other group. Although Kingston is a somewhat rural and predominately white city, it was found that black drivers were 3.7 times more likely to be stopped by police in a Caucasian person and aboriginals were 1.4 times more likely to be stopped. This data corresponds to get emanating from United States, particularly a recent study by a Yale University professor who found that black men in America with three times more likely to be stopped by police in Caucasians. According to data from the UK, blacks in the country were likely to be stopped and searched at a rate of 142 per 1,000 people. Accordingly whites were stopped and searched at a rate of just 19 per 1,000. These discrepancies are important and lend credence to the argument that certain minority groups are more likely to be stopped and other groups. Accordingly, aboriginals in Canada are disproportionately represented within the criminal justice system and while they counsel to 4% of the total Canadian population, original prisoners are 21% of the prison population and female aboriginal prisoners account for 30% of the population. In some provinces, the aboriginal incarceration rate is more than 50% of the total population in the Manitoba wherever jewels account for just 6% of the population they are 71% of the total prison population. Saskatchewan is another prairie province with an extremely high average incarceration rate. Accordingly, 79% of the total prison population in this province is aboriginal. These Canadian statistics lend credence to the argument that certain minority groups within Canadian society, aboriginals and blacks, are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice process and this could be directly related to racial profiling by law-enforcement officers (CBC, 2005; Statistics Canada, 2006). According to University of Toronto scholar Scot Wortley, “blacks are still 2 times more likely to experience a stop by police and four times more likely to experience both. They are also 7 times more likely to experience an ‘unfair stop’; importantly, age and social class to protect blacks from police stops” (1994). As the statistics demonstrate, racial profiling is a feature of the existence of minority groups in both Canada and the United States. Racial profiling is predicated on the assumption that certain groups are more likely to be involved in criminal behavior than others and is inherently based upon prejudging certain types of individuals. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, groups such as Arabs and Canadian Muslims have reported increased scrutiny and racial profiling at the hands of the law enforcement officials. Importantly, racial profiling has been said to have increased in the aftermath of 9/11 and has been undertaken by traditional police services as well as border guards. Accordingly, Arabs, Muslims, and those who look Arab or Muslim report being subjected to higher scrutiny at Canadian airports allegedly because decision makers consider them a greater security risk than the rest of the population by virtue of their real or perceived Arab or Muslim identity. Although it took place in the United States, the case of Walid Shater, the Secret Service Agent who was ejected from an American Airlines flight when he was on his way to guard President Bush and his family on Christmas day, has some relevance to Canada because it shows the propensity of at least some pilots who operate across national borders to regard Arabs and Muslims as security risks (Bahdi, 2003). While the racial profiling of Arabs and others has reportedly increased in recent time, certain visible minority groups remain targets for racially-motivated policing. Accordingly, being pulled over for being black, also known as “DWB” – driving while black - is an issue which is frequently described by blacks in both Canada and the United States as being an insidious aspect of racism in the 21st century. When one is singled out for being a member of a minority group and are subject to increased police scrutiny due to nothing else than the fact that they are a visible minority, the charge of racism is one which is leveled against law enforcement officers. If racial disparities do exist within law enforcement, differential treatment the criminal justice process can lead to increased incidences of arrest and incarceration. In the criminal justice process which is upon the belief that all are equal before the law, racial profiling discredits law-enforcement as well as the criminal justice system. What has been done in the Canadian context address this issue? (Bahdi, 2003; CBC, 2006) What is being done to address this issue? The issue of racial profiling Canada is hampered by the fact that many police services dispute the fact that racial profiling does in fact exist. From the perspective of racial profiling 21st century, racial profiling has increased dramatically in the wake of September 11th 2001 and Arab and Muslims in both Canada and the United States have faced increased scrutiny by law-enforcement officials. According to an article in the Osgood Hall Law Journal, racial profiling in Canada has increased dramatically in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11 (Bahdi, 2003). Accordingly, Arab and Muslims in this country have faced greater scrutiny by both the general public as well as the security services of this country. From a policy perspective, much needs to be done in order to ensure that racial profiling does not take place. Presently, the onus is on each individual province as well as each individual law enforcement agency to tackle reported instances of racial profiling. Racial profiling in particular is not specified as a protected issue in the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act in Canada. Accordingly, individuals can however secret dress through their provincial human rights commissions if racial profiling leads to discrimination. In Canada, discrimination is prohibited upon racial grounds and the rights of individuals in this country are protected against discrimination through the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act. If individuals are treated unfairly by a law-enforcement official as part of the criminal justice process, each province has in its own individual Human Rights Commission which has the power to investigate further. For example, the province of Alberta has its own Human Rights Commission, as has does Ontario and the province of Québec. Someone who has faced racially-based discrimination can make a human rights complaint and the Commission has the option of addressing the complaint or choosing not to. An important issue with racial profiling Canada is that the onus remains upon the provinces to tackle issues of race-based discrimination which occur in Canada. There is no nationwide attempt to tackle the issues associated with racial profiling Canada. The system that is in place now leads it up to the individual provinces as well as to the individual law enforcement agencies to handle their issues internally (Smith, 2007; Tanovich, 2006). What can be done to address this issue? What can be done to address the issue of racial profiling in Canada? There are a variety of ways in which racial profiling can be tackled in the Canadian context. First and foremost law enforcement agencies must acknowledge that racial profiling does exist and must take steps in order to combat this insidious form of racism in Canadian society. Accordingly, the first step entails the acknowledgment of a problem and until that happens little will be done to address important issues voiced by visible minority and aboriginal communities in this country. Right now, there is not universal consensus that racial profiling is a legitimate concern and something which exists in the Canadian context. In order to address the issues surrounding racial profiling, police services can do more to reach out to specific minority communities in an important way in which police services in Canada can do so would be to provide sensitivity training to its officers. While sensitivity training may help police officers better understand the various concerns of nonwhite groups in Canadian society, anti-racism policies need to be implemented in order for this training to be effective. In addition to acknowledging the issue, providing sensitivity training to its officer corps and implementing anti-racism policies throughout the police services, law enforcement agencies throughout this country should implement affirmative action hiring policies which aim to increase the numbers of visible minorities within Canadian police services. Thus, police services for this country should undertake a hiring drive to increase the representation of nonwhite police officers in this country. This can be done by reaching out to a virtual communities, both in urban centers as well as in rural Canadian communities as well as increasing the representation of black Canadians, Asian Canadians and other groups within the police services (Tator & Henry, 2006). This is particularly important in light of the fact that Canada prides itself on being a multicultural mosaic and the police forces in this country should represent the composition of Canadian society. Accordingly, positive discrimination may be necessary to ensure that certain groups within Canadian society, such as black Canadians, Asians or Muslims, are more proportionally represented within the Canadian police services. Furthermore, the Canadian federal government can attempt to streamline the process for address when cases are racial profiling exists. Presently, the current system in place leaves it up to the individual provincial Human Rights Commissions to handle complaints and to deal with them as they see fit. To some, racial profiling does not exist in Canada is something which is a figment of in the minds of nonwhites in this country. This is where the problem lies. That acknowledgement that racial profiling does exist within this country is the first step in tackling it. Following this, the onus is upon the police services throughout this country to respond to the criticisms that it faces through a variety of initiatives. Only then, can discrimination and the insidious aspects associated with racial profile, the addressed in the Canadian context (Tator & Henry, 2006). Concluding Remarks Canada is a multicultural mosaic and the criminal justice system should serve all Canadians, irrespective of race or national background. Charges of racial profiling within the Canadian police service industry hark back to the days when Canada was far less diverse this today. Accordingly, significant minority groups within Canadian society have been disproportionately targeted by police services and statistics in both Canada and the United States emphatically demonstrate their racial profiling is issue in the 21st century. Certain groups, such as blacks, aboriginals were Asians are more likely to be stopped by police services and statistics in Canada emphatically demonstrate that racial profiling does exist. Importantly, racial discrimination for some groups has increased in the post 9/11 period and Arabs and Muslim Canadians reported instances of increased scrutiny from both the Canadian public as well as from the criminal justice system. Accordingly, Muslims and Arabs in this country have faced increased discrimination from the regular police services as well as from border patrols. This is unfortunate and particularly insidious in light of the fact that Canada has always maintained itself as a beacon of multiculturalism and tolerance throughout the world. Canadians deserve a colorblind criminal justice system and the following has provided an introduction to racial profiling in this country. Following this we have explored the ways in which racial profiling is being addressed and have provided a series of important steps which should be implemented in order to properly address the associated issues of latent racism in Canadian society. First and foremost, law enforcement agencies must knowledge that racial profiling does exist and take steps to eradicate race-based discrimination within the criminal justice system. In Canada, nationwide attempts at addressing racial profiling must seek to tackle the issue throughout the country and should be focused upon eradicating this form of discrimination. Sensitivity training can be used in law enforcement circles and increased hiring a visible minority groups will do much to tackle racial profiling in Canada. By providing public policy options for tackling racial profiling in Canada, this research paper has been both descriptive as well as prescriptive. Racial profiling is an important criminal justice and social equality issue in the Canadian context and must be tackled with vigor. References “Adult Correctional Services in Canada, 2005/2006”. (2006). Statistics Canada. Last Accessed November 13, 2009 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/85-002-x2008006-eng.pdf Bahdi, R. (2003). No Exit: Racial Profiling and Canadas War Against Terrorism. Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 294-316. Deveson, M. (2009). “Harvard Row Highlights US tensions”. BBC.com. Accessed November 18, 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8166278.stm “Racial Profiling”. (2005). CBC.ca. Accessed November 18, 2009 http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/racial_profiling/ “Racial Profiling”. (2009). United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights. Accessed November 18, 2009 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Bringingacaseagainstracialprofiling.aspx Smith, C.C. (2007). Conflict, Crisis and Accountability: Racial Profiling and Law Enforcement in Canada. Toronto: Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives. Tanovich, D. (2006). The Colour of Justice: Policing Race in Canada. Toronto: Irwin Law. Tator, C & Henry, F. (2006). Racial Profiling in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Wartley, Scott. 2005. “Racial Profiling in Canada: Evidence, Impacts and Policy Debates.” Accessed November 18, 2009 http://www.toronto.ca/metropolis/metropolistoronto2005/pdf/wortley_metro_profile.pdf Read More