On the eve of International Women’s Day, Premier Kathleen Wynne held a town hall and fielded questions on everything from the treatment of Indigenous people, to in-school services for children with autism, to the strike at York University.

Among the contentious issues the premier was asked about at the question-and-answer session in Toronto Wednesday night was how police deal with minorities, and what the province is doing to address it.

“They treat people of colour very poorly,” said one man. “You need to stop that, premier, please do something.”

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Wynne said “there is systemic racism in our society — that is the core of what we are dealing with in terms of changes that need to be made.”

“I’m not saying racism only exists in police forces,” stressed Wynne. “It is something we deal with throughout society. Which is why we have made changes in terms of the laws around police officers’ ability to stop people on the street.”

Referring to a law that took effect last year banning “carding,” Wynne said “I know that there are challenges around that. …

“But we basically said it’s not OK, it’s not legal to stop someone just because they are Black, or just because they are brown, or other than when there is a suspicion or a reason to stop that person. …

“We can talk about whether it’s working or not, but it’s a culture shift, and it’s a hard shift for the police services to make, (but) we have made that change.”

Another attendee said Black women are disproportionately having their children taken away from them by Children’s Aid and the courts.

Wynne said “we’ve got to find ways to make change and move in the right direction” rather than simply shutting down institutions. It’s better to shut down what isn’t working, Wynne said.

“There is racism in our society, no doubt about it,” she added. “We are going to work to make the change that will help.”

Wednesday night was the seventh town hall the premier has held in the province, and her second in Toronto.

Earlier in the evening, Wynne was asked by moderator and former journalist Jane Taber about news that the March 28 provincial budget will include a deficit.

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“We did balance the budget this year as we committed to, and we made a very intentional decision … even though the economy is doing well, there are people in the province who need support, there are people who aren’t benefitting from the economic growth that we are seeing … we, as we have been doing for a number of years, are going to tackle that uncertainty,” Wynne said.

“It’s a very intentional decision to invest in the resilience of the people in this province,” she said, adding that the economy “is not just the balance sheet … I would worry more if we made the decision not to invest in people and not do the things that are necessary right now.”

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