A Human Rights Perspective on Racial Profiling in Ontario

• Author: Ontario Human Rights Commission
• Pages: 66-100



AHumanRightsPerspective

onRacialProlinginOntario

Ontario Human Rights Commission

A. I N T ROD U C T IO N R AC I A L P ROF I L I NG

CONTINUES TO BE CAUSE FOR

CONCERN

Formany years racialized communities and Indigenouspe opleshave

spokenout aboutt heirdeep mist rust ofpublic institutions  such as

policecorre ctional authoritiesc hildwelfa reagenciesa ndothersT hese

aret hevery inst itutions weas a societyhave entrusted toprotec tus

andhelpuswithhighlysensitiveissuesandwhichoftenrespondtothe

needs oft hemost vul nerablepeople in our societyYetfor raciali zed

andIndigenouspe oplestoooftent hetrust theyshouldfeel isoverrid

denby the lived experience of racial proling such as being unfai rly

singledoutfor surveillancesc rutinyinvestigationanddisproport ion

atelyharshtreatment

Racialprol ingis an insidious and particularly damaging type of

racialdiscriminat ionthatrelatestonotionsofsafetyandsecurityRacial

prolingv iolatespeoplesrights undert heOntar ioHuman Rights Code

th e CodePeople from many dierent communities exper ienceracia l

prolingHoweveritisoftendirected atIndigenouspeoplesMuslims

ArabsWest Asians a ndBlack people and is often i nuenced byt he

distinctlynegativestereotype sthatpeopleinthesecommunitiesface

Thischapterincludesrecommendation sandhighlightsfrom recent

OntarioHuma nRights CommissionOHRCreports and submissions

AHumanRightsPerspectiveonRacialProlinginOntario

tooer abroad overviewof the workthe OHRCis doingto eliminate

systemicracisminallitsformsinthecriminaljusticesystemItincludes

excerptsfrom

• UnderSuspicionR esearchandConsultationR eporton RacialProlingin

Ontari oMay

• OHRCRecommendations tothe Ministry ofCommunity Safety and

CorrectionalServ icesonitsStrategyforaSaferOntarioApril

• OHRCDeputationto theOawaPoliceServices Boardonthe Trac

StopRaceDataCollectionProjectNovember

B. EXCERPTS FROM U ND ER SU SP I C I O N :

RESEARCH AND CONSULTATION

REPORT ON RACI AL PROFILING IN

ONTA RIO

 SurveyRespondentsReportsofRacialProfiling

a) Reported Incidence of Racial P rofiling 

WeaskedsurveyrespondentsHaveyoueverbee nraciallyproled

Overallalmost fourin tensur veyrespondentspercentor re

portedhavingbeenraciallyproled

 Allpercentagesi ntablesandchart sfromthesurveya rebasedonthenumb erof

respondentswhoanswer edthatparticu larsurveyquest ion

 TheOHRCsurveywasbasedonano nrandomsampleItwasconductedinthe

summerofandgatheredresponsesTheOHRCdoesnota imtopresent

ourresultsasbei ngrepresentativeoft heOntariopopulat ionandtheyshouldnot

beinterpretedi nthiswayForexampleconclusionscan notbedrawnaboutthe

proportionofpeopleinO ntariowhoexperienc eracialprolingba sedonthepro

portionofsurveyr espondentswhoreportedt hattheywereraciallypro ledThe

numericsurveyres ultsonlyprovidecontextforres pondentsqualitativea nswers

 Participantsrep ortsofracialproli ngarebasedonthe irperceptionsT hese

reportshavenotbeeni ndependentlyveriedandw ithoutadditionalinfor mation

itisdiculttoconcludeth attheystemfromdisc riminat ionHowevertheydo

pointtoconcernst hemesandareast hatarecritical lyimportantwhentr yingto

understandthephe nomenonofracialproli ng

 Thequalitativesu rveyresponsess uggestthatmanyresponde ntsbelievedthat

otherformsofracia ldiscrimi nationtheyexper iencedoutsidethecontextofs afety

andsecurit ysuchasbeingtreatedun fairlyinemploymentwasracialprol ing

Assuchthean swerstothequestion sinthissec tionmayapplytosurveyrespon

dentsperception sandexperiencesofot herracialformsofdi scrimin ationaswell

asracialproli ng

OHRC

Figure ReportedIncidenceofRacia lProfilinga mong

Survey Respondents by Racial or Et hnic Backgrou nd

72.5%

57.4%

52.4%

11.0% 63.0%

Black

(n=203)

Indigenous

(n=66)

Other

racialized

(n=100)

White

(n=61)

Arab or West

Asian (n=34)

Frequency

Racial or ethnic background

NotesPercentagesarecalculat edbasedonthenumberofr espondentswitheachrac ial

orethnicbackg roundwhoansweredt hequestionPeoplewhoidentiedasBlack 

IndigenousandAraborWestAsianmayhavealsoidentiedwit hmorethan

oneracialoreth nicbackgroundOtherrac ializedexcludespe oplewhoidentied

asIndigenouswhiteBlackA rabWestAsianorOtherWhitereec tspeople

whoidentiedexclusivelyaswhiteAnycompa risonsbetwe engroupsofdierent

racialbackgrou ndsancestriesc reedsorsexesmustbeinter pretedwithcaution

becausesomepeopleidenti edwithmultiplecategoriesT hereforequantitat ive

comparisonsbet weengroupswil linvolvesomeoverlapdoublecount ingThe

percentagesderivedforeachg roupandanycomparisonbe tweengroupsreect s

thesurveyresp ondentsonlyandarenotrepr esentativeofthetota lpopulation

Overhalfofracial izedandIndigenoussur veyrespondentssaidthey

hadexperienced racialproling comparedto percentofwhite survey

respondents Almost threequa rters of Black survey respondents said

theyhadbeenraciallyproled

b) Persona l Characteris tics Racial Prof iling May Be Based On

Table PerceptionofCodeGroundsasFactorsRacial

Profili ngwasBasedonbySelectCode G rounds

Code ground Percentage Count

Ethnicityorancestry  

Placeoforigin  

Race or colour  

Religion  

Other  

Totalresponses

NotesPercentagesdonottotalduetomultiplecategoriesbei ngselectedPercent

agesreectthesur veyrespondentsonlyandarenotrepre sentativeofthetotal

population 