Author: Research Services and Capacity Building Coordinator

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Written by Jenn Rossiter and Sydney Sheloff

Racism is prevalent within our current social, political, and economic realities. Its manifestation across and between systems (for example, health care, education, criminal justice, and policing) makes it necessary to highlight specific sectors where it has caused particular harm, or been particularly influential. We’ll focus the next two posts on a couple of areas that have been in the public eye recently: policing and education. We recognize that the presence of systemic racism within these two systems is not mutually exclusive (consider School Resource Officers), and that there is a complexity in the ways that they interconnect. However, this is an attempt at a brief overview of current issues and discussions to highlight how they connect to social issues such as poverty and employment.

K-12 Schools

Edmonton has seen its share of recent media reports over incidents of racism in the K-12 school system. Take for instance the repercussions in 2019 when Emmell Summerville, at the age of 11, was asked to remove his du-rag at school due to its perceived gang affiliation. Or the Edmonton Public School Board trustee who claimed that refugee students were prone to violence (spoiler alert: they’re not).

Generally, issues in education arise from inadequate representation of BIPOC individuals as teachers or administration, and a recognition from non-BIPOC educators that they do not have the experience, tools, or resources to talk about anti-racism in the classroom. Without adequate training, and handed a highly Euro-centric curriculum, teachers are unable to effectively engage in the subject. On top of this, overt racist acts are often treated as bullying in an effort to avoid discomfort, which negatively affects identity formation and well-being among BIPOC children and youth.

In an effort to respond to calls for change in racial inequality within the education system, the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) has committed to the collection of race-based data—the first school board in Alberta to do so. This data will be used to address racism and racial discrimination, with the intent to measure accountability and improve equity within the school system. Board Chair Trisha Estabrooks noted that the board first needs to “understand the gaps and the inequities in order to come up with policies.” EPSB will collaborate with BIPOC communities and leaders to determine best practices in data collection. Erick Ambtman, Executive Director for EndPoverty Edmonton, and an ESPC partner agency, is quoted in the EPSB Recommendation Report, stating, “To begin to address racism and undertake effective anti-racist work, we must understand all of the ways in which racism is expressed within our systems. Race-based data collection is therefore the necessary first step in doing anti-racism work and building anti-racist policies.”

In another move, EPSB has agreed to suspend the controversial School Resource Officer (SRO) program and replace it with a Youth Enhanced Deployment model. Although this remains a collaboration with the Edmonton Police Service, according to EPSB the officers will be “trained to respond with youth. Officers will no longer be based in Edmonton Public Schools or assigned to specific schools. Officers will have community policing duties in addition to responding to calls involving youth.” Though not exactly an innovative modification, the willingness to review programs and respond to external pressures is promising. For more on the SRO program and its harms to BIPOC students and communities, you can read an article by Sydney Sheloff (ESPC Research Officer) in ESPC’s fall 2020 fACTivist newsletter.

Post-Secondary Institutions

Issues of systemic racism are not just contained to K-12 institutions. Universities are also facing their own harmful practices.

The role of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) units within universities, according to professor and expert Malinda Smith, is to “work individually and collectively to advance a shared strategic vision of a more accessible, equitable, diverse, and inclusive campus.” The University of Alberta, for example, has adopted a wide array of EDI initiatives that extend to institutional planning, research, and student supports.

However, some have argued that EDI initiatives give universities the appearance of being diverse and inclusive, without addressing the fundamental nature of racism and exclusion. For example, expecting newly hired BIPOC academics to work towards White, Western, ideals of “success;” or not addressing the policies, practices, and structures that keep them from academia in the first place.

We currently see a track record in the lack of representation in faculty, leadership, award and program committees, and large grant recipients—which ultimately places BIPOC applicants at a disadvantage. When proposals are put forward that don’t conform to Western, “tried and tested” methodologies, they are often overlooked or dismissed. This is changing, as more innovative, culturally relevant, or traditional projects are proven to succeed within the academic setting—for example, land-based learning for Indigenous studies programs, or community service-learning.

Representation also matters. If youth do not see themselves reflected in positions of leadership, as educators or administrators, they may internalize the belief that post-secondary education is unattainable. In 2016, 94% of Black youth aged 15 to 25 wanted to get a bachelor’s degree, but only 60% thought they actually could. In recent events, University of Alberta law professor Ubaka Ogbogu chose to remove his profile from the University’s website after receiving racist messages (by voicemail and email) in response to his criticism of the UCP government’s COVID-19 response. As the only Black law professor, he is aware that this move could affect prospective Black law students who will no longer see that representation within the faculty.

Why Education Matters

Evidence shows that employment is closely linked to education levels, especially for BIPOC communities. In 2016, the proportion of people who were not in employment, education, or training (NEET) was 58% for young Black men without a high school diploma, compared to 33% of other young men without a high school diploma. However, young Black men with a university degree had approximately the same NEET rate as other young men with a university degree (6%). In 2019, 45% of Indigenous people (aged 25–54) without a high school degree were employed, compared to 62% of the non-Indigenous population. However, for those who had completed post-secondary, 82.1% of Indigenous people were employed—nearly on par to the 87.3% of non-Indigenous people.

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[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.7.0″ custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false”][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_4,1_4″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ _builder_version=”4.7.3″ _module_preset=”default” width=”100%” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”3px||5px|||” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”#a6c942″][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.0″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_post_title meta=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”4.7.4″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”||||||||” custom_margin=”||3px|||” border_color_bottom=”#a6c942″][/et_pb_post_title][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.0″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https://edmontonsocialplanning.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/COLOUR-BLOCKS_spaced-300×51.png” title_text=”COLOUR BLOCKS_spaced” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”100%” module_alignment=”center” max_height=”50px” custom_margin=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” custom_padding=”10px|0px|10px|0px|false|false”][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_4,1_4″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ make_equal=”on” _builder_version=”4.7.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”100%” custom_margin=”0px|auto|0px|auto|false|false” custom_padding=”37px|0px|44px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.5.6″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.7.4″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ custom_padding=”||32px|||”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9kYXRlIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJkYXRlX2Zvcm1hdCI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJjdXN0b21fZGF0ZV9mb3JtYXQiOiIifX0=@[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.7.4″ text_line_height=”1.6em” header_2_font=”||||||||” header_2_text_color=”#008ac1″ header_2_font_size=”24px” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”justified” width=”95%” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin=”2px|0px|2px|-96px|false|false” locked=”off”]Racism is prevalent within our current social, political, and economic realities. Its manifestation across and between systems (for example, health care, education, criminal justice, and policing) makes it necessary to highlight specific sectors where it has caused particular harm, or been particularly influential. We’ll focus the next two posts on a couple of areas that have been in the public eye recently: policing and education. We recognize that the presence of systemic racism within these two systems is not mutually exclusive (consider School Resource Officers), and that there is a complexity in the ways that they interconnect. However, this is an attempt at a brief overview of current issues and discussions to highlight how they connect to social issues such as poverty and housing.

Social Unrest

The concept of defunding the police force (that is, re-allocating/ re-directing funding from police services to community services) has been associated with dismantling systemic racism for many years. Recently, the concept has appeared in mainstream discourse with the release of recent videos in both the United States and Canada demonstrating police violence and excessive force against BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) civilians.

This past summer Albertans heard, watched, and read the stories about Chief Allan Adam and his confrontation with the RCMP in Fort McMurray, about James-Dean Sauter who was tackled in a Circle K here in Edmonton, and about several other by-stander accounts of what appears to be local police using excessive force on otherwise co-operative or non-aggressive suspects in Edmonton and its surrounding regions.

As a result, the public has focused on the need to improve police accountability & transparency. Investigative reporting indicates that use of force is disproportionately high towards Black and Indigenous people, compared to their overall population representation. Claims from police services that officers and practices are unbiased are no longer acceptable; racial profiling through ongoing activities like carding/ street checks harm communities rather than act as a valuable tool to crime prevention. These practices erode public trust, along with a community’s sense of safety and security.

We’ve heard time again that what’s needed is to defund the police—allocating those funds to community services that would better target issues such as housing, mental health, addictions, and community safety. But who really makes these decisions?

Structure & Funding

Here in Alberta, municipal police operate under provincial legislation. That means that the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) must adhere to the provincial Police Act (1988). This document regulates officer duties and responsibilities, administration and governance, officer complaint and discipline procedures, and the role of the Law Enforcement Review Board.

The Act dictates that the EPS is responsible for determining its own annual budget. This is developed in collaboration with the Edmonton Police Commission, an oversight body that governs the EPS and its annual planning & budgeting.

So where does municipal government come in? Specifically, the City of Edmonton plays a smaller role in police oversight by:

• Appointing members to the Edmonton Police Commission,
• Reviewing commission reports, and
• Funding approved budgets.

The City has no say in how EPS spends operational money (so line items, such as uniforms, vehicles, or state-of-the-art equipment, are beyond its jurisdiction), but it does provide the funding by way of the City Capital Budget (typically through taxes). So if EPS requested $400 million one year, the City has the power to give only $350 million. And if EPS wants to spend some of that money on, say, a new armoured vehicle (although perhaps poorly timed), this expense would be planned for and approved by the commission.

Which leads us to events from this past summer. As a result of demonstrations against systemic racism and calls to defund EPS, Edmonton City Council agreed to withhold a previously approved $11 million budget increase (over two years). Police Chief Dale McFee argued against these cuts, stating that this move would affect EPS salaries, and result in job-loss for recent diversity recruits: “it’s last in, first out.” Funding to EPS still accounts for nearly 15% of the City’s Capital Budget expenditures (its largest item), amounting to $373 million in 2020. Although this move is more of a budget freeze than a budget cut, it does demonstrate that the City recognizes the need to redirect money to social and community services in Edmonton—in this case City Council indicated that funding would go to supportive housing and community programs. “We cannot police ourselves out of systemic racism or societal injustices and challenges like poverty, addictions, mental health and trauma,” Mayor Iveson stated.

Defunding the police would ultimately impact the intersection between health, poverty, and criminalization. Reducing engagement between marginalized populations and the police (and the criminal justice system as a whole) could help increase vulnerable folks’ access to housing, health care, education, and employment; re-allocating funds to community supports would improve appropriate responses to non-criminal incidences. Although the City has the power to defund the police, the effort would have little impact on the legislation of police behaviour, which is a larger systemic issue.

Behaviour & Reform

In order to see change governing police practice and behaviour, we would have to look to the Police Act, which hasn’t been updated since 2006. It’s up to the provincial government to review regulations and amend—or better yet, re-write and modernize—the Police Act. The (possibly) good news is that police reform is on the agenda for newly appointed Justice Minister Kaycee Madu, including a review and update to Alberta’s Police Act. Support to defund municipal police services, ironically, is not.

As one of its first steps towards reform, the provincial government very recently announced a ban on carding. This is great news on the whole, but is not as simple as it sounds: street checks will continue under new guidelines and reporting measures. It will be interesting to see what changes in behaviour, practice, and data are a result of this announcement.

Our Community

The police system is clearly a complex web of decision-makers and regulation. Change is needed to improve experiences between the public and the police force, especially as they relate to police accountability, and BIPOC individuals. Directing money away from the police service and shifting these funds towards social equity programming and services would only improve our city, neighbourhoods, and citizens.

The Edmonton Social Planning Council (ESPC) has long championed the need for improved services for marginalized communities, and we especially recognize—and support the City’s focus on—the benefits of supportive housing. The City has not failed in its promise to address these issues, but ESPC will continue to advocate for these changes, and to monitor the ways in which our city is served and protected.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.4″ custom_padding=”0px|20px|0px|20px|false|false” border_color_left=”#a6c942″ custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_testimonial author=”Posted by:” job_title=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9hdXRob3IiLCJzZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJiZWZvcmUiOiIiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsIm5hbWVfZm9ybWF0IjoiZGlzcGxheV9uYW1lIiwibGluayI6Im9uIiwibGlua19kZXN0aW5hdGlvbiI6ImF1dGhvcl93ZWJzaXRlIn19@” portrait_url=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9hdXRob3JfcHJvZmlsZV9waWN0dXJlIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnt9fQ==@” quote_icon=”off” disabled_on=”on|off|off” _builder_version=”4.7.4″ _dynamic_attributes=”job_title,portrait_url” _module_preset=”default” body_text_color=”#000000″ author_font=”||||||||” author_text_align=”center” author_text_color=”#008ac1″ position_font=”||||||||” position_text_color=”#000000″ company_text_color=”#000000″ background_color=”#ffffff” text_orientation=”center” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”0px|0px|4px|0px|false|false” custom_padding=”32px|0px|0px|0px|false|false”][/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_text disabled_on=”on|off|off” _builder_version=”4.7.4″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_text_align=”left” header_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.65)” header_font_size=”20px” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||50px|||” custom_padding=”48px|||||”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9jYXRlZ29yaWVzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiUmVsYXRlZCBjYXRlZ29yaWVzOiAgIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6ImNhdGVnb3J5In19@[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]