Toronto police chief apologizes to Black residents as race-based data revealed

The interim police chief of Toronto has apologized to the city’s Black community as the service releases previously unseen race-based data on use-of-force and strip searches.

The statistics released today related to incidents that happened in 2020.

“For this, as Chief of Police, and on behalf of the Service, I am sorry and I apologize unreservedly,” James Ramer said.

“The release of this data will cause pain for many. Your concerns have deep roots that go beyond the release of today’s report. We must improve; we will do better.”

The data suggests Black, Indigenous and racialized people were over-represented in both use-of-force incidents and strip searches.

It also shows that Black people were more likely to have an officer point a gun at them, whether perceived as armed or unarmed, than white people in the same situation.

Middle Eastern people were overrepresented when it came to enforcement and use-of-force as well, while other groups – such as Latino and East and Southeast Asian residents – experienced less enforcement in comparison to their representation in the population but saw more use-of-force when they did interact with police.

White people faced proportionately less use-of-force and less enforcement.