Members of the Justice for Abdirahman Coalition and their supporters at their Press Conference on August 4 2016. Courtesy of the Justice for Abdirahman Abdi Coalition

11
Aug

2016

Consolidated List of Recommendations by the Justice for Abdirahman Coalition

Written by Muslim Link

Published in News

The Justice for Abdirahman Coalition is asking that members of the community contact their elected representatives at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels by September 5th to demand justice for Abdirahman Abdi.

The following is the statement released by the Justice for Abdirahman Abdi Coalition on August 14th at the City of Ottaa where several reccommendations were made to various government institutions in relation to this case.

To learn more about the Justice for Abdirahman Coalition visit their website here.

As representatives from civil society, we have come together to speak with a united voice about the tragic death of a Canadian-Somali man, Abdirahman Abdi.

We believe that his death could and should have been prevented.

We believe that our society has an accountability to work together to avert such deaths from ever happening again.

We collectively call on all three levels of governments, the Ottawa Police Service, the Ottawa Police Services Board, and responsible police oversight agencies to:

1- Acknowledge that there is a crisis within the Ottawa Police Services when it comes to how authorities interact with members of racialized communities, and specifically, with those with mental health issues;

2- Strike a task force to examine this crisis, and the disproportionate number of Black men and people with mental health differences that have been killed by police, and to commit to funding relevant programs and legislating policies that address systemic problems in relation to vulnerable and racialized communities; analyze all best practices in community policing, consult with communities, and provide a comprehensive review of police services and an action plan for change, including specific timelines;

3- Respond to the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s assertion that there is “no effective mechanism to hold police accountable for systemic discrimination” and to provide a remedy for this gap;

4- Amend legislation to ensure that the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) provides its reports to the public, until such time that the system has been fully reviewed and overhauled to provide a transparent, effective, and independent civilian oversight and accountability of police;

5- Commit to reassigning police officers who are under investigation for causing death or serious injury to administrative duty, and prohibiting any form of interfacing with community members until the investigation is complete;

6- Fully implement the recommendations made by Ontario’s Ombudsman in the recent report titled “A Matter of Life and Death” and provide regular updates to communities;

7- Create consistent standards across all police services in every province with regards to training in dealing with and responding to individuals with mental health issues, as referenced in the 2013 Mental Health and Criminal Justice Policy Framework by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health;

8- Require the Special Investigation Unit, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and Statistics Canada to collect and publicly report race-based data on police encounters with civilians, including but not limited to, police use of force;

9- Create a special task force to review all Coroner’s Inquest recommendations made since 2001, and identify key recommendations which require immediate response and implementation.