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Following is a statement of Sen. Donald Oliver of Nova Scotia regarding a recent United Kingdom Report on Racism of Police Officers. Clearly Sen. Oliver considers that this report resoantes with his life long experience in Nova Scotia. I have just downloaded the entire report in html. It consists of 40 short chapters written in very plain language for a legal report. I hope to have it converted to RTF in the near future. I will happily send it as a compressed file in its present html state to anyone who wants it that way and will also do the same in the RTF format when that becomes available. mp April 13, 1999 Debates of the Senate, 4. Human Rights 4.1 United Kingdom Report on Racism of Police Officers Hon. Donald H. Oliver: Honourable senators, I would like to draw to your attention a recent report issued in the United Kingdom with which all Canadians should make themselves familiar. I had an opportunity to read it over the Easter break. On February 25, 1999, Sir William MacPherson, a retired High Court judge in Great Britain, delivered his report on the inquiry which he led into the death of Stephen Lawrence. At approximately 10:30 in the evening of April 22, 1993, in a district southeast of London, Stephen Lawrence, the 18-year-old son of Jamaican immigrant parents, was attacked while waiting for a bus. When he tried to escape, he was stabbed to death by five white youths. Neither a public nor private prosecution of these youths resulted in convictions. The reasons for the inquiry arose because the parents of Mr. Lawrence believed that, at the root of these unsuccessful prosecutions was a corrupt, conspiratorial and racist police department. While Sir William MacPherson in his report does not impute any fault to the police department in this particular case, he does reach the conclusion that the British government, especially in the area of law enforcement, is gripped by institutional racism. His recommendations, which I believe are for the most part well reasoned, present us with a blueprint for dealing with racism or combating racism in all areas of law enforcement in Canada. The report recommended that the: ...full force of the Race Relations legislation should apply to all police officers, and Chief Officers of Police should be made vicariously liable for the acts and omissions of their officers relevant to that legislation. This would ensure, the inquiry held, that there would be accountability for the racial acts of police officers. One of the issues discovered by the inquiry was that there was a belief among some officers that the racism or racial acts would be tolerated by the senior command. This recommendation places responsibility for such acts squarely upon the most senior officers to ensure that they lead by example. The inquiry defined "racist incident" to be one that is perceived to be racist by either the victim or some other neutral person. It could also include an incident which may or may not be criminal. This definition is to be universally adopted by the police, local government and other similar agencies. I believe that this definition is an important step towards dealing with race relations. Racism must be defined by those who are on the receiving end. It should make those who are in sensitive positions consider the feelings of others before acting or speaking. In conclusion, I believe that we in Canada can learn a lot from the recommendations of this inquiry. Police forces and those involved in the criminal justice system in Canada should review these recommendations, especially the ones dealing with family assistance, with a view to adopting them for use in Canada. -- Michael W. Posluns, The StillWaters Group, First Nations Relations & Public Policy. Please note new address: mposluns@accglobal.net Phone 416 656-8613 Fax 416 656-2715 36 Lauder Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6H 3E3. We offer Canadian parliamentary debates available by topics and bills.
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