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Elaine Durocher, who is Métis and has lived on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for 11 years, says it’s time for an investigation into the disproportionate rate at which Indigenous people are “carded” by Vancouver police.

The last time Durocher was stopped and asked for identification from police, she was walking along Hastings Street with her young granddaughter when she saw officers “harassing” someone and asked what was going on.

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“My granddaughter’s little hand squinched into my hand, so I knew she was frightened,” Durocher said.

She is part of a group of civil rights, Indigenous and black leaders calling for B.C.’s police complaints commissioner to investigate a significant racial disparity in the Vancouver Police Department’s use of carding.

During the checks, police stop a person, check their ID and record personal information.

“Poverty is not a crime, homelessness is not a crime, being a person of colour is not a crime,” Durocher said. “It’s my right as a human being to be left alone to walk these streets. It’s my right to not have police tapping me on the shoulder because of the colour of my skin.”