Mayor Linda Jeffrey Comments on Ontario Government Prohibiting Carding and Street Checks

BRAMPTON, ON – I congratulate the Provincial government and thank them for their courage in
banning the practice of random street checks and carding in Ontario. This has been a very
contentious issue and I believe this regulation finally addresses the ongoing concerns I heard from
Brampton residents.
Since June 2015 I have been working with my colleagues on the Peel Police Services Board to
advocate in favour of ending the practice of “street checks” in Peel and today we now have the full
support of the Provincial Government.
The new regulation establishes clear and consistent rules to protect civil liberties during voluntary
police-public interactions. Front line police officers need the right tools to do their jobs, but at the same
time we have an obligation to protect the rights and freedoms of all residents; despite race, religion or
ethnicity.
This regulation will increase accountability, strengthen oversight and at the same time guarantee the
rights and freedoms of all Region of Peel residents and eliminates the collection of personal data on
an involuntary basis.
During the consultations many residents expressed concern about what happened to the data which
was collected by police through carding and street checks. Today’s regulation deals with the
collection and retention of data moving forward, it is important that we also have a strategy in place to
protect the data already collected. In the future I believe that the Province should restrict access to
this data and I will be encouraging the Minister to consider how best to protect this identifying
information.
In order to ensure that Peel Regional Police continue to provide excellent community safety our Board
will work with Chief Jennifer Evans to ensure that officers receive new and ongoing training every
three years. This training will include how to be aware of, and avoid, racism and bias when
conducting these voluntary interactions.
At the same time there will be greater disclosure of information in an annual public report from the
Chief that includes details such as the number of attempted collections; gender, age and race of the
individual stopped; number of times officers relied on exemptions and the neighbourhoods where the
information was collected.
I believe this regulation offers a significant new way forward which will build greater trust between our
residents and our police forces and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Police
Services Board and Chief Evans as the Peel Regional Police force implements these new regulations.