LEGAL AID ONTARIO ADVISES "THE PLAIN FACT IS THAT BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT TREATED EQUALLY IN OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM"

I was surprised by the headline and more surprised by the authors. David Field and Moya Teklu represent the Ontario Legal Aid plan. He is the President and CEO and she is a special adviser to Legal Aid Ontario. If anyone had asked me I would immediately have said that our justice system does not treat whites equally nor actually any specific race equally. It's all about money and whose got it. If a larger proportion of whites have money than Blacks then indeed I have no doubt that Blacks are not treated overall as well as whites.

Then I read the rest of the article. These authors know of what they speak. They work everyday in the justice system. They represent poor whites, poor blacks, and presumably every other ethnic minority. When they stated that police are more likely to arrest Black people than white I was unfortunately not surprised despite the fact that I am white and have been arrested. More than once and even woken up in the middle of the night in police custody (Kitchener) and advised that my provincial offence charge of trespassing had been upgraded to now include a criminal charge of "Obstruct Police". Such incredible crap. Both charges never even made it to court as my lawyer, Wayne Rabley, approached the Crown with evidence implicating police behaviour and possibly even a set up. My "crime" was insisting upon my legal rights within the education system but without a lawyer right beside me at the time. Thank you potentially Ken Seiling and or like minded political and police cronies who are both cowards and bullies.

Then I read more: Oh my God the authors state unequivocally that "...members of the bench (i.e. judges) are less likely to grant bail and more likely to impose strict bail conditions. Black people spend more time behind bars awaiting trial than white people charged with the same categories of crime." These statements are coming from the CEO of Legal Aid Ontario. Wow!

There are many more alarming statistics including the names and numbers of Blacks shot and killed by police in Ontario. Normally the police are cleared of criminal conduct in the few cases in which they are even charged whatever the ethnic background of the victim. It makes news when a policeman actually gets convicted such as Officer Forcillo for the "attempted" murder of Sammy Yatin in Toronto. Sammy died after being shot and hit by eight of Officer Forcillo's nine shots fired at him yet the police officer was only convicted of attempted murder. Go figure.

So now we know categorically that the problem is more than just ignorant or angry white police officers. The problem includes our courts. If our judges are racist then what else are they biased against? Other ethnic minorities, social justice activists, environmental critics, socialists, or maybe just anybody who is different from them? Say poor people in general for example. The awakening comes first. Make real change now or perhaps the reckoning will follow. Some are claiming that the riots and protests in the U.S. are just the start of the reckoning there. Why should anyone be surprised by that behaviour under the circumstances?