Time for a Black Police Chief in Toronto?

A Black Police Chief in Toronto: Friend or Foe?

by http://NEPV.org

TORONTO, ON - Jane Finch Action Against Poverty (JFAAP) and the Network for the Elimination of Police Violence (NEPV) invite you to a panel discussion on the relevance of an African Canadian police chief to the experiences of police violence in racialized working-class communities and the actions that we need to embrace to resist the brutal behaviour of the Toronto Police Service.


There is no consensus within the African Canadian community on the usefulness of the possibility of  appointing a Black man as the next police chief of the Toronto Police Service. The experiences of African Americans reveal that the presence of African American police chiefs in major American cities has not substantively affected the prevalence of police violence.


The history of police reform in the city of Toronto has made it clear that change comes from below. The difference-maker in forcing the agenda of police accountability on the political directorate is grassroots  organizing of campaigns, projects, or programmes by the people disproportionately affected by state violence.

However, hope is the stock-in-trade of the voiceless or the socially marginalized. Therefore, some people feel invested in the promise of an African police chief in Toronto. This public education forum will engage in
a critical discussion about what must be done to resist police violence in our communities.

Forum on police violence and the relevance of a Black police chief

Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Ellie Adekur Carlson, graduate student, trade unionist, and Chair, NEPV; Butterfly Gopaul, JFAAP organizer;

Kabir Joshi-Vijayan, longstanding organizer against police violence and organizer with the Marcus Garvey
School Program

Yorkgate Mall, 1 Yorkgate Blvd, Toronto, Seneca College in Yorkgate (north west corner of Jane Street and Finch Avenue); Room 218/219 (2nd floor of the mall)

-30-

MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: April 13, 2015
Ellie Adekur-Carlson, NEPV Chairperson,

http://NEPV.org
eliminatepoliceviolence@gmail.com