Ottawa Demonstration Against Police Brutality and Impunity
On June 20, a demonstration organized by Justice
for Abdirahman Coalition gathered more than 1,000 people at Elgin
Street police station in Ottawa. They then marched to Ottawa City Hall
to denounce racism and police violence against Black and Indigenous
people.
The organizers noted: "This march is organized to
support the global and local protests against police violence on Black
lives. We also act in solidarity with our Indigenous sisters and
brothers who have been struggling against the same racist police
violence in Ottawa and across Canada."
Hamid Ibrahim, a member of the coalition, spoke
outside City Hall. He stated in part:
"In recent weeks, the senseless killing of George
Floyd has galvanized the world. The horrific video of George's last
moments at the hands of those tasked with his protection has truly laid
bare a capacity for racist brutality that many in the United States and
Canada have failed to acknowledge. Just as with Abdirahman Abdi's death
and the recent assault of Obi Ifedi here in Ottawa, violence against
Black people has been wilfully ignored by our institutions. The death
of Greg Ritchie in Ottawa in 2019 and recent police killings of
Indigenous people across Canada show us that this violence is deployed
in equal force against our Indigenous brothers and sisters. Yet in our
city and beyond, institutional and structural change has been slow,
despite mounting video evidence of wildly disproportionate acts of
violence, amounting to naked complacency in the face of summary
executions.
"Extra-judicial killings of unarmed Black and
Indigenous people at the hands of police has proven itself a pandemic.
This pandemic requires the same attention, diligence, and far-reaching
approaches established by public health officials in their fight
against COVID-19. Demands for justice have reached a boiling point;
they can no longer be ignored."
Ibrahim went on to articulate various demands
to the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario and Government of Canada.
They include a demand to defund Ottawa Police Service by putting a
"significant portion" of its budget toward services that provide
alternatives to armed police response to ensure community safety and
well-being. The province was called on to reinstate Bill 175, the Safer Ontario Act, 2018,
to put in place measures for police accountability. The federal
government was called on to investigate "entrenched racism within the
RCMP."[1]
The Justice for Abdirahman Coalition was formed in
2016. Abdirahman Abdi was a 37-year-old Somali-Canadian with mental
health issues. He lived in Ottawa's Hintonburg community at 55 Hilda
Street. Abdirahman died on July 24, 2016 during a violent altercation
with Ottawa Police Service officers, recorded on one of the apartment's
security cameras. Mr. Abdi had no criminal history, and there are no
indications he posed a threat to the lives or safety of the officers at
whose hands he died.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), an agency
of the Ministry of the Attorney General, took on the investigation
within hours of the incident. However, the SIU has yet to release a
judgment on the case. Ottawa police Const. Daniel Montsion is currently
on trial for manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon
in relation to Abdi's death.
Note
1. To
read the entire speech, click
here.
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