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Racism was not the reason police in Elgin county made a wide-ranging request for DNA samples from migrant workers after a sexual assault in 2013. That’s according to the independent police review director, who released his findings today. But the group that made the complaint and the Ontario Human Rights Commission disagree. The independent police review director, Gerry McNeilly says he looked carefully at the 2013 sexual assault investigation.
“Although the police investigation ended in successful prosecution of the perpetrator, questions were raised about how the investigation was conducted.”
Police asked for DNA samples from basically every migrant worker in the area, about a hundred men. The circumstances were unusual. McNeilly says the OPP weren’t motivated by racism, but they did go too far in asking for DNA from people who didn’t remotely look like the suspect. The Ontario Human Rights Commission says McNeilly’s findings do point to racism.
McNeilly has recommendations for future DNA canvasses, to make sure people understand their rights, but migrant worker support groups were not appeased.