Race-based data doesn't mean individual police officers can't be disciplined: privacy commissioner
CBC
Ontario's privacy commissioner says the law requiring police services to collect race-based data does not prevent them from using that information to assess and discipline individual officers.
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has issued a statement to "clarify" comments made by Toronto's interim police chief last week as the service released new data that show Black and racialized residents face disproportionate use of force.
At the time, interim Chief James Ramer said the data couldn't be used to investigate the actions of individual officers because the Anti-Racism Act and the privacy commissioner require them to be anonymized.
Ramer also said there were existing processes, such as internal investigations and the courts, to deal with the actions of individual officers, and that the force does not tolerate "overt racism."
In its statement, the commissioner's office says it has not indicated that the laws in place prevent police from using the data to "inform the supervision, training and discipline of its police officers."
It says the laws are designed to "protect people's personal information rather than information that identifies an individual in a business, professional or official capacity."
The report on race-based data released last week is being presented to the Toronto Police Services Board today.
The board's policy on race-based data was adopted in 2019 after the provincial government passed the Anti-Racism Act, which requires several public sectors to collect such information.
At the time, the board said the data would not be used to identify specific officers or manage their performance, but to "identify trends that contribute to professional development and organizational change."
WATCH | Toronto police chief apologizes after race-based data released:
Ramer confirmed today that the privacy commissioner's office did not provide advice related to the rule restricting the use of race-based data to systemic issues.
But he said the force's data analysis was "built to comply with the board's policy, and thus it simply cannot be used for individual performance issues."
The interim chief apologized to the city's Black and racialized residents last week as the statistics were published, saying the force needs to do better.
Many advocates and community members have said the report only confirms what Black and racialized people have been saying for decades.
This First Person column is the experience of Shannon Flaman, who lives in Red Deer, Alta. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
City staff are working on long-term plans to prevent toxic and smelly algae blooms at the Hamilton harbour – and short-term plans to mitigate blooms when they happen – but are cautioning residents that it's not the type of problem with a quick fix.
Another blockade of the Ambassador Bridge wouldn't play out like what happened in February 2022 — thanks to police being empowered to act faster and harder, according to a report that's going to Windsor city council next week.
On the first day of 2025, Alberta's default electricity rate is set to be replaced by the new "rate of last resort," in what the province says is a bid to protect consumers from a volatile electricity pricing landscape.
Canadians and Americans sit next to each other in the stands of a small Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., hockey arena to watch the Soo Thunderbirds face off against their cross-border rivals, Michigan's Soo Eagles.
A number of school bus routes in northwestern Ontario have been cancelled Wednesday after a dump of snow overnight in the region. A number of weather advisories also remain in effect in the region, including snow squall warnings in the Greenstone area.
Waterloo regional councillors have voted down a motion that would have asked the Waterloo Regional Police Service to cut $4 million from its proposed 2025 budget.
Residents of a neighbourhood in the heart of downtown Charlottetown hope to have a community garden in place on some vacant land by the time spring arrives.
Planting trees is a popular way to mitigate climate change, but in northern and Arctic regions, it may not be an effective solution.
The RCMP says it's considering deploying Mounties-in-training to help police the Canada-U.S. border as political anxiety over border control mounts in the face of tariff threats from the incoming Trump administration.
Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were honoured Tuesday night before the Calgary Flames played the Columbus Blue Jackets, on the same ice where Johnny etched his place as a cherished member of the city's hockey community.