End Street Checks - Question Period

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : My question is for the Minster of Justice. Yesterday when I asked the minister to take action on the Street Check report, rather than answer my question the minister chose to argue about a technicality. He said that Dr. Wortley did not phrase the findings of his report in the form of a recommendation, he presented two options. The recommendations from that report are clear - the status quo is not an option and Dr. Wortley has called on the government to either ban or regulate street checks and to impose an immediate moratorium while action is considered. I will table that.

Mr. Speaker, why is the minister allowing police street checks, a practice rooted in systemic racism, to continue while community members, academics, senators have been clear that this practice must end now?

HON. MARK FUREY « » : Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague for the question. I want to reiterate, I have said publicly that the findings of the Wortley report quite frankly are alarming, and they are unacceptable. We are taking steps to address that. Just today, I gave directives to our law enforcement community that they are to cease using street checks as part of a quota system. The direction has been given to cease using street checks as part of a performance measurement tool. There is a need, quite frankly, for training around the law enforcement community specific to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, their authorities, the missions, visions, and values and code of ethics of law enforcement agencies. We have to address this problem. We will address this problem. It will be inclusive not only of the law enforcement community but the communities that are most impacted.

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : I thank the minister for that answer. However, street checks should never have been part of a quota or a performance management tool ever. So, ceasing those is the very tip of the iceberg. Yesterday, after the powerful report that we heard and the community voices, the minister addressed the media and called street checks a valuable policing tool when used correctly. However, Dr. Wortley was clear that there is very little evidence at all that street checks impact local crime rates in any way.

Street checks are not an effective policing practice and have done and continue to do significant harm to the Black community. This practice must be suspended while a permanent solution is determined. Will the minister acknowledge that in spite of having clear evidence laid out for him, he is permitting a racist and discriminatory practice to continue in Nova Scotia?

MARK FUREY « » : Again, I appreciate my colleague's question. This is a very serious matter that we are giving immediate attention to. But I want to remind my colleague I'm acknowledging everything that Dr. Wortley has identified in the content of the report. It is alarming and it simply unacceptable and we will take steps to address it. But what my colleague has not shared with this Legislature and all Nova Scotians is Dr. Wortley himself said that a ban in itself may simply be symbolic and not change the experience on the street. That's not lost on me. It's important that I put a common-sense, sound-judgment lens to the work and redress that we will take to ensure that this practice stops into the future.