HALIFAX — The illegal practice of street checks may be have been banned by Halifax police, but an upcoming public event brings the issue directly to the Black community and asks what happens now that the first “victory” has been won.

On Monday evening, the grassroots group 902 ManUp is partnering with Halifax Public Libraries to present Beyond Street Checks: A Community Conversation. The discussion will address the months of street check protests, the recent decision from a former Chief Justice deeming them illegal and the expected apology from the city’s police chief.

“This is just the beginning … Yes, we have a victory, but the war’s not over. That was just one battle,” said Marcus James, 902 ManUp co-founder and community engagement staff at the Halifax North Memorial Public Library.

“It’s not over by a long shot.”

Founded in 2016, 902 ManUp is a non-profit volunteer organization that was created after a year of violence where multiple young Black men were killed. The organization is primarily dedicated to the advancement of all Black communities within Nova Scotia, with a particular focus on the empowerment of Black youth.

Street checks, also known as carding, refer to the police practice of either stopping someone and asking for their identification or observing someone they already know from afar and entering that information into a database.

Justice Minister Mark Furey announced the practice would be banned as of Oct. 18, just after the release of a legal opinion from Michael MacDonald, former Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Appeal Court.

MacDonald provided the legal opinion to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission as part of the response to a report by Toronto criminologist Scot Wortley, who found that Black people in Halifax are six times more likely to be subjected to street checks.

Although the ban is much better than the original moratorium the province announced in April, James said there’s still lots of unknowns: like what exactly will happen with the years of street check data, why the ban took so long and exactly how residents can be sure illegal stops still aren’t taking place unrecorded.

The force said in June it plans to delete 14 years of street check information from its database in December 2020, but some members of the police board voiced concerns that move would go against Wortley’s recommendations.

James said the African Nova Scotian youth in Halifax, including his son Trayvone Clayton, should also be recognized for making a difference by opening their hearts during consultations around street checks and describing how the practice impacted their lives.

Beyond Street Checks will be a community forum moderated by Portia Clark of CBC’s Information Morning and featuring Tony Ince, Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs; Natalie Borden, the chair of Halifax Board of Police Commissioners; Kimberly Franklin, legal adviser for the Human Rights Commission; and Halifax Police Chief Dan Kinsella.

This is the first time that city officials and others sitting in “decision-maker” chairs, have actually met before the Black community specifically, James said, which is vital to bring them into the open where anyone can ask questions and find out more about the ban since they were the ones impacted the most.

“This is what it needs to be, we need to have a voice in this,” James said. “Community has not been at the table.”

Although people of African descent are more directly impacted by carding, James said the issue affects everyone because Halifax’s policing system “represents everybody” and should therefore reflect that in all situations — but “in this particular situation, it doesn’t.”

He added this event is about the panellists showing “face value,” and explaining their positions but not making street checks into a complicated issue or using technical legal terms.

“Let’s keep this, as we say, ‘real talk,’ so that community understands the language that is being spoken to them and there’s clarity there,” James said.

This conversation also won’t end Monday.

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James said Monday’s event serves as a pilot for the launch of an upcoming new community series, Real Talk, which will begin in January 2020.

The series will track the carding issue by following up with different people and organizations, and informing the community of any progress as well as go into other topics, James said.

Monday’s event will be held at the Halifax North Memorial Public Library on Gottingen Street at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome.

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