HALIFAX—Despite a call from the Black community, the government of Nova Scotia refuses to enact a province-wide moratorium on street checks.

Released Wednesday, a much-anticipated report for the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission on the practice – also known as carding – confirmed that Halifax police disproportionately target Black people and recommended either regulating the practice or banning it.

Premier Stephen McNeil and justice minister Mark Furey said it was “alarming” to learn Black people in Halifax are six times more likely than white people to be the subject of street checks. But neither were prepared to immediately end the practice.

“This should not be a normal part of the policing process,” McNeil told reporters Thursday.

He said the Black community may be owed an apology, but not from the government. “That’s a good question for the police department.”

After Toronto criminologist Scot Wortley released his carding report on Wednesday, Robert Wright of the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition called for an immediate moratorium on street checks while the board of police commissioners and the provincial government decide how to respond to its recommendations.

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Furey – backed by the premier – said the province would let street checks continue while he considers his final decision on the issue.

“I believe the immediate response in a moratorium or a ban could in fact allow the practice to continue,” he said Thursday at Province House.

He worries about driving the practice “underground,” making it harder to identify and remedy.

Instead, Furey directed more than 1,900 Nova Scotia police officers to stop using street checks as part of a quota system or as a tool for evaluating officer performance, although he did not know of any police forces doing so. The government also announced mandatory training for police officers on the findings of the report.

In a news release, it added that training will “reinforce with officers the fundamentals of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, their missions, vision and values and policing codes of ethics.”

The justice minister expects to deliver a plan by the middle of May, and has invited the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition, the Human Rights Commission and the policing community to begin working on short-, medium- and long-term actions.

The NDP caucus was strongly opposed to Furey’s response to the street-check report, peppering him with questions and criticism on the floor of the legislature Wednesday and Thursday.

NDP justice critic Claudia Chender said she and her colleagues want an immediate moratorium and, eventually, an outright ban.

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“Minister (Furey) spoke about his good intentions...but the reality is that good intentions are not enough and what’s required is action,” said Chender. “I think it is unconscionable for the government not to act immediately.”

Chender understands a final ruling will take time, but in the meantime a moratorium would prevent people from being subjected “to this discriminatory practice.”

Tim Houston, the leader of the Progressive Conservatives, said he too would support a moratorium on street checks, although he wasn’t definitive about what he wants to see in the long-term.

“I can’t put myself in (the justice minister’s) shoes, but what I’m saying is what I’ve read in that report is concerning.”

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