Hamilton police complete over half of recommendations from report on 2019 Pride festival
CBC
The Hamilton Police Service (HPS) has completed more than half of the 38 recommendations it received after an independent investigator found the service responded inadequately and "failed to protect" LGBTQ attendees when violence broke out at a 2019 Pride festival.
Of the 16 recommendations the service is trying to complete, five focus on training and will continue over several years, Deputy Ryan Diodati said during a Thursday police services board meeting. Another five are specific to the next in-person Pride event.
Other recommendations hinge on feedback from a recently released survey of the LGBTQ community that showed people want "deep changes" and more LGBTQ representation in the police service.
Tina Fetner, a McMaster University sociologist who led the survey, says it is "imperative" the survey and recommendations lead to change.
"The Hamilton community needs to have a police department that is not biased against the two-spirit and LGBTQIA+ community," she said, noting police have made good progress on the 38 recommendations.
Hamilton police have been criticized after violence broke out at the 2019 Pride festival.
A religious group bearing Biblical signs crashed the festival, and through a loud speaker, said Pride attendees were sinful.
The group was accompanied by people with ties to yellow vest and Proud Boys groups who'd been demonstrating at city hall every Saturday.
A group of people in pink masks, many of them associated with a local anarchist group, used a large black curtain to block the protesters from view. Violence broke out and several people were injured.
One protester was arrested, three counter-protesters were charged and one person was arrested who was later found to not be at the festival. Only one of the people arrested came from the protesting side.
People criticized HPS for what they perceived to be a slow response that favoured the protesters. Chief Eric Girt then said on the radio that police would have deployed differently if they'd been invited to the event.
The police board hired Toronto lawyer Scott Bergman to investigate the police response. Bergman released an independent report saying the police response was "inadequate," and that the relationship between HPS and LGBTQ residents needed mending. That report also included recommendations.
Since then, police had McMaster University conduct a survey within the LGBTQ community to share how they feel about HPS.
The survey also asked respondents to identify what qualities a person facilitating conversations between the service and the LGBTQ community should have, and asked for qualities of people who could join an advisory panel or task force.
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