Sunday, April 08, 2018

Doug Ford will provide enhanced funding for TAVIS

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford's speech on policing: if he becomes Premier of Ontario in June 2018 he will pump more money into The Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS). Tavis was a unit that collected personal information on mostly Black and Brown males. It was feared and hated for criminalizing a community based on racial stereotypes.








Wednesday, March 21, 2018

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2018

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Racial Minorities, particularly Blacks, have little to nothing to cheer about or celebrate.

Racial Profiling is rampant. We are still faces at the bottom of the well.

In Canada and the United States, racist rallies that were a thing of the past has publicly emerged and politics is moving to the far right.

Black kids are still profiled in school as requiring special education or having some form of exceptionality.

Black kids and their parents are increasingly stressed by Children Aid Societies and Black kids are more likely to be taken into care, sometimes for the least infractions or allegations.

Prisons are overpopulated with Black men who should be in Universities. The criminal justice system remains systemically racist.

Black men are in distress numbers are disproportionately arrested, charged, assaulted, seriously injured or killed by police in the United States, Ontario, Canada, Guyana, the United Kingdom,  and Trinidad. Extra-judicial killing by state agents that are troubling but justice for the victims remain illusory.

Whether its dressed as implicit bias, implicit racism, systemic racism, institutionalized racism or personal racism: it is racism.

Our justice system participants still don't get it on what is racial profiling.

Consumer racial profiling remains prevalent.

Black people are excluded in large numbers from corporate Canada's boardrooms and large law firms. One can still count the numbers because they are so low.

Discrimination in employment, whether it is in the public service or private sector remains the second highest grounds for applications under the Human Rights Code.

Access to justice remains illusory. On March 21, 2000, I wrote:

For those of us who are true, committed anti-racist, we must continue to fight against all of the evils of racism which evident within our society. We are not the first to fight this battle. We do not want the next generation to have to fight this battle again.
March 21 is a time for us to re-dedicate and re-commit ourselves to fight any and all social injustices that isn't beneficial to the society in which we were brought up [and in which some of us has adopted as our home].
Our continued fight has reinforced the meaning of moral courage, humility and integrity. We hope that the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Human Rights Commission can learn the meaning of moral courage, humility and integrity from us.

The truth hurts but it must be told.

While I remain hopeful. I have little to celebrate in 2018.

March 21, 2018
Selwyn A. Pieters
Barrister, Solicitor & Notary Public
of the Bars of Guyana, Trinidad and Ontario.

Friday, February 02, 2018

Racism targets York University Osgoode Hall Law School

February 22, 2001
Courtesy of the Toronto Star

Racism targets York law school
Black students look for justice after hate letters
Nicholas Keung
STAFF REPORTER
Toronto police are investigating three incidents targeting black law students at York University in the past few weeks.
Some time between Feb. 8 and 10, a photo on the Black Law Students Association's bulletin board in the basement of York's Osgoode Hall Law School was defaced. The eye of one of the pictured women was poked with a pin.
Last Thursday and Monday, two black female law students received hate letters on campus with newspaper clippings attached about crimes involving people of colour and a message that said, ``It disgusts me to see you at Osgoode.''
Two hate crime investigators met with about 40 of the students - along with associate dean Shelley Gavigan and campus security officials - in a closed meeting yesterday to discuss the issues.
``This is a cowardly, despicable act,'' said Sue-Lynn Noel, president of the black students group and one of the women who received the letters.
``People are worried. We look around in our classes and the person sitting next to us could be the one who's responsible for it.''
Law student Selwyn Pieters agreed. ``It has certainly created a hostile and poisoned learning environment for me as well as others.''
Detective Constable Samuel Samm refused to reveal the evidence but said he believed the incidents were related and might have been committed by the same individual. No suspect has been identified.
``The letters were all hate propaganda, trying to demean and degrade the (black) community. Hate crime incidents against black people tend to heat up during the Black History Month,'' he said.
Police are trying to track down the source of the letters through postmarks and fingerprints on the two white business envelopes.
``We regret that these incidents happened,'' Gavigan said.
``We are a law school that has the most diverse student body. Diversity is our strength and these students are part of our excellence.''