This column is not for everyone.

It’s supposed to be, of course. The ethos behind writing it is to nudge people into exploring their city. To really live it, rather than let it pass by unnoticed or ignored.

An even more idealistic hope is that as people embrace their city they’ll care more about it. Get involved. Be constructively critical. Maybe even run for office or join a civic organization. At the very least they’ll feel some ownership over this city, a place that belongs to all of us.

Unless you’ve been carded, that is.

Carding is a practice in which Toronto police officers arbitrarily stop citizens, who are disproportionately black males, and ask them questions about what they’re up to, even if they’re not doing anything wrong. The moment that happens, the liberty many of us enjoy in a free and open city evaporates. Most of us who have that liberty don’t even know we have it: it’s just normal.

But a person who has been carded knows. They no longer own the city; the city owns them. It’s a civic relationship that is warped, wrong and racist.

I use the word “us” a lot in this column intentionally, to suggest we’re all in this together, part of the same community, but it’s a sham. There is no “us” when some can roam free of harassment and others cannot.

During the 15 years I’ve lived in Toronto I’ve explored the city without worry. I’ve skulked around in alleys. I’ve lingered on street corners. I stand behind poles trying not to be noticed. I take pictures of buildings, houses and sometimes even people. I’ve walked in ravines and parks in the dark. I’ve stared at places for long periods as if I’m casing the joint, and I loiter where signs read “No Loitering.”

I’ve lurked, snooped, slinked, snuck, slipped in and slid out yet I’ve never been carded, stopped or questioned by police. Not once during what is a 15-year case study of who gets to be free in this city.

While doing all this I’ve been passed by police officers in cars, on foot and even on horseback and hardly had a glance thrown my way, even when I’m the most suspicious person on the street. I’m left completely alone, allowed to do what I was doing: owning my city.

All individuals will feel varying levels of comfort while exploring the city. Not everybody gets to be invisible. It’s easiest for white males like me, less so if you’re a woman or person of colour because other individuals will take notice of them for various reasons and prejudices.

That’s unfair and a problem, of course, but individual behaviours are complex and take a long time to correct. Carding is different for two reasons. It’s all of us acting collectively through our police force, saying to a group of Torontonians that the city is not theirs and that they’re being watched and they had better watch out. Carding is also different because, unlike individual human behaviour, the policy can be junked immediately.

Police Chief Blair has, as Edward Keenan wrote this week, incinerated his legacy by defending the carding practice. Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard), on the other hand, still has a chance to do what’s right.

Before he became mayor, Tory was chair of CivicAction, a noble organization that “tackles some of our region’s toughest social, economic and environmental challenges” through programs like DiverseCity, which encourages more diverse leadership in the GTA.

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If Tory still believes in the CivicAction ideals he so recently espoused, he’ll make sure the next chief of police terminates the carding policy for good.

Shawn Micallef writes every Friday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef.

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