Monday’s protest by Black Lives Matter Toronto got the city talking about police brutality, and about tactics the group used to reignite the conversation. Residents in the Eglinton West area where 45-year-old Andrew Loku was recently killed by Toronto police were largely appreciative of the action — hundreds left their houses and businesses, and even stopped their cars on Eglinton to cheer the demonstration. Others, who were stalled for over an hour when protestors blocked the Allen Expressway, were not amused.

The gathering certainly got the attention of Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard) who, according to BLMTO, has requested a meeting with the group. I think they should accept Tory’s request for a meeting — so long as it takes place in public.

Mayor Tory contacted me shortly after I published a widely read story in Toronto Life magazine about police carding — the police practice of stopping civilians who are not suspected of any crime, and documenting their personal information. Tory told me he had read the piece, was troubled by its contents, and wanted to meet me “off the record” to discuss my concerns.

Although I met with the mayor, I had no new information to relay privately that I had not already expressed publicly. After all, my writing described not simply my own experiences, but the systemic discrimination that black residents face from their police every day.

Tory did not heed my advice. He vowed publicly to end carding, and then supported a watered-down policy that kept it in place. However, he repeatedly assured reporters he had met with me, as if such a meeting was evidence he was listening. If Tory had held a public meeting and invited all residents to express their concerns, he would have gained a clearer picture of public outrage about police brutality, which has only grown since Loku’s death.

I cannot speak for BLMTO, but I believe it exists to raise public awareness about police brutality and anti-black racism, not to secure the private attention of powerful people. Anything John Tory may have to say to BLMTO members is of great concern to all residents. By offering to meet privately with the group, Tory is unnecessarily dividing their grave concerns from those of the general public. And it is clear from mainstream reaction to Monday’s protest that many residents do not grasp the urgency of addressing police killings and systemic racism.

Media has been inundated with residents who were outraged, not at the repeated killing of black people at the hands of police, but at being stopped in traffic because of Monday’s protest. While their frustration is understandable, it is nothing when compared with the suffering of black people who endure daily police surveillance, interrogation, intimidation, harassment and, in the worse cases, unnecessary arrest, beatings, and killings.

Tory has consistently refused to discuss these issues unless some mass public mobilization forces his hand. He often says he cannot comment on policing matters, either because he is in private conversation with concerned parties or because allegations of police conduct are, as in Loku’s case, currently being investigated by the Special Investigations Unit.

But nothing has prevented Tory from convening residents to explore one of the most serious and pressing matters of public interest since he became mayor. Even if he finds himself unequipped or unable to speak to the issues himself, Tory has the power to amplify the voices of residents, many of whom rightly feel ignored and are taking to the streets in disgust and frustration.

Just as demonstrators blocked both sides of the expressway at Eglinton Road on Monday, Tory was sitting down for a regular television appearance where he takes calls from viewers. In response to live questions from La Tanya Grant, whose cousin Jermaine Carby was killed last year by Peel police, Tory said, “these deaths that happen involving altercations between police and civilians are tragic … any number of them is unacceptable.”

Given that Tory makes no proactive efforts to engage Torontonians on what he describes as tragedy, it is hard to believe him. Instead of waiting for residents to call him on television with their concerns, or to block a highway so he is forced to address them, Tory should organize a series of public meetings in partnership with Black Lives Matter Toronto and other concerned groups.

Desmond Cole is a Toronto-based freelance journalist and activist.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about: