After previous harm, Peel parents push back against PC move to mandate police back in schools

A coalition of community advocates, parents and teachers gathered in Peel last week to demand Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Paul Calandra withdraw proposed legislation that would force the return of police officers into Ontario’s publicly-funded schools. Peel Police previously acknowledged the program caused harm to Black and other visible minority students. 

A provincial advocacy group called “Policing-Free Schools,” is opposing Bill 33, the Supporting Children and Students Act, which among its other proposed changes to Ontario’s education system, would create a requirement for “boards to work with local police services to provide them with access to school premises, permit them to participate in school programs and implement school resource officer programs.”

The tabled legislation making its way through Queen’s Park has also received widespread criticism for its other proposed changes: it would give more power to the Province to review school boards and control their spending. The bill passed second reading in June, prior to the summer recess at Queen’s Park. MPP’s return to the legislature next month. 

Minister Calandra has hinted the government is also considering upending the governance model of Ontario’s public school system by eliminating democratically-elected trustees, a move that has sparked backlash. 

"It is an attack on public education across the province, an attack on democracy, and an attempt to systematically silence all students, parents, caregivers, guardians, and communities," Andrea Vásquez Jiménez, the Director and Principal Consultant with Policing-Free Schools, said about bill 33 during a press conference last week held outside the Peel Police Board building in Brampton. “[It’s] about carceral cultural control and further funnelling money into policing and carceral measures and taking money away from education and the well-being of students, educators, and school communities." 

A School Resource Officer (SRO) is meant to serve as a bridge between youth and the police. By building connections with students, police agencies can foster positive relationships, work as a potential recruitment pathway and be present to solve any issues that arise on school property, the PCs claim. 

Many school boards in Ontario currently have an active SRO. Others, like Peel, eliminated them after widespread reports that the program was causing harm, particularly to Black and other visible minority students, and perpetuating systemic racism. The Toronto District School Board cancelled its SRO program in 2017.

After a review of the program in 2020, Peel Police removed SROs from schools acknowledging the harm the program caused.

“It was evident during the consultation phase that the current SRO program caused a negative impact on segments of our student population,” a statement from Peel police at the time explained. “Change was necessary.”

That decision in November 2020 came just over a month after Peel Police signed an agreement with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) committing the force to eradicating systemic racism. The work completed alongside the OHRC has been ongoing, and has been met with mixed reaction from community members. 

The agreement came after a period of intense upheaval within the Peel Police department. The departure of former chief Jennifer Evans led to the arrival of Chief Nishan Duraiappah who vowed to make significant change after a scathing audit in 2019 by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion described a police organization that systemically discriminates, harasses and punishes those who try to speak out. 

The audit found the majority of those who were surveyed about the SRO program “did not have a positive view.” Town halls hosted as part of the audit process heard from attendees who shared concerns about their children being criminalized and subjected to random police carding checks to obtain their personal information while at school, and said the only goal of the SRO officers was to collect information about potential crimes.

Strong community activism to end systemic racism within the Peel District School Board (PDSB) led to the elimination of the School Resource Officer (SRO) program in Peel public schools in 2020.

(The Pointer files)

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the OHRC, that officially launched the Human Rights Project, dictates that Peel Police implement legally binding remedies to identify and “eliminate systemic racism in policing, promote transparency and accountability, and enhance Black, other racialized, and Indigenous communities’ trust in policing throughout Peel Region.” The Ford government’s proposed legislation to revive the SRO program sits in opposition to this commitment and could force Peel Police to implement a program that contradicts its obligations to the Human Rights Commission.  

In an email response to The Pointer, Peel Police officials confirmed they are aware of the proposed legislation, and “recognize the complex history surrounding police presence” in Peel schools. 

"Any future engagement related to school-based programming would be shaped through meaningful consultation with students, families, educators, community advocates, and government partners and guided by the principles of the Peel Regional Police Human Rights Project," a Peel Police spokesperson responded. "We acknowledge the intent of this legislation to promote safe and supportive school environments. Peel Regional Police is committed to a thoughtful, equity-focused, and community-informed approach by working collaboratively with our community partners, local school boards, and the Peel Police Service Board to assess the path forward."

The Ontario Human Rights Commission has also criticized bill 33 for shifting decision-making power in schools to law enforcement, and without substantial changes, the proposed legislation “presents a substantial risk to the learning environment and climate in Ontario schools.”

“By mandating the implementation of SRO programs, Bill 33 disempowers school boards and prevents them from fulfilling their responsibilities to protect the rights of all students under the Ontario Human Rights Code,” a submission by the OHRC argues. “This is particularly concerning in jurisdictions, including Peel and Toronto, where Black students and communities have routinely communicated the systemic harms associated with SRO programs.”

Returning police to schools could open old wounds for families across Peel Region, where the largest school board, the PDSB, has a student body that is approximately 85 percent non-white, representing ethnic and racial groups who for years have suffered disproportionate use of force at the hands of Peel Police officers. The force’s own data show that before the practice of random street checks was curtailed by the province in 2016, Black individuals in Peel were more than three times as likely to be stopped by police compared to white residents. 

Chief Nishan Duraiappah has repeatedly told the community change is coming. Annual use of force data continues to show a significant problem, with little change.

Peel Police officers filed 835 use of force reports for 2023. Of these, 276 involved Black residents; 33 percent of use of force incidents involved a Black person while they made up only 9.8 percent of Brampton’s and Mississauga’s population (Caledon is policed by the OPP). A report that will include the use of force data for 2024 is set to go before the Peel Police Services Board during its meeting on September 26. While the agenda is available, the report has yet to be made public. 

Earlier this year, after tossing out evidence in a weapons case ruling it was obtained as a result of racial profiling, Justice Renu Mandhane determined that: “Clearly, racial profiling is systemic and intractable within Peel police.”

With such a troubling assessment of the organization’s culture, advocates are concerned the systemic racism that was endured by students during the previous iteration of the SRO program, will only continue as Peel Police has shown it is incapable of eradicating the harmful problem within its own ranks. 

“I am concerned that it is Black kids that are going to feel the negative impacts of such a program," Kathy McDonald, the former inaugural chair of the Black Trustees’ Caucus and a current PDSB trustee, told The Pointer. It was a request from McDonald in 2020 that led to the review of Peel’s former SRO program, leading to its cancellation. 

"However, I do believe it’s time for boards to have conversations with various enforcement agencies. Depending on the outcome of bill 33, boards may be mandated to have police in schools, so I think it’s important to have a conversation, not only with police but with other ministries as well, including those responsible for child welfare and mental health.”

David Bosveld, co-founder of the Peel Black Collective, shares McDonald’s concerns about systemic racism within the Peel Police force bleeding into the region’s public schools.

"The problem with policing in school programs is exactly that: disproportionate treatment of Black people in all data sets and interactions. If that is happening in the community, why should we expect it to be different in the schools?"

On September 18, Vásquez Jiménez recapped the years of community efforts it took to eliminate the SRO program in Peel.

“In Peel Region, students, caregivers, and communities had been calling for the removal of police in schools for years before the program was finally ended," she explained. "Community education forums were held across Peel, calls to action were developed and meetings took place with school boards, senior staff, and former directors. Deputations were made at the Peel Police Board, and community action continued until the SRO program’s termination became a reality.”

While pointing out the Ford government’s failure to properly fund the education system, she also listed the key demands on behalf of several organizations, like the Canadian Federation of Students—Ontario, which called for the withdrawal of bill 33 and “to cease unnecessary government oversight.”

"We collectively say no to bill 33, no to taking over school boards, no to policing in schools, and yes to properly funded, supported and resourced public education."

Andrea Vásquez Jiménez, Director & Principal Consultant of Policing-Free Schools, speaks at a press conference in Brampton on September 18, right outside the building that houses the Peel Police Services Board, advocating for equitable, policing-free education and opposing Bill 33.

(Muhammad Hamza/The Pointer)

"Ford's Conservative government continuously chooses to make the crisis worse, chronically underfunding by $6.35 billion since 2018, as reported by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives," she said. "This too is a distraction from the government's multiple scandals, including this government's own waste of taxpayer dollars in the billions of dollars, and ultimately their decimation of our public systems and public common goods, including the deterioration of community-based supports."

The revival of SRO programs by the PC government in Ontario ignores the findings of numerous studies that have found these programs cause adverse harm to visible minority students. In March, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released its report titled “Dreams Delayed”, which highlighted how SROs unfairly target Black and other racialized students.

"Police presence and surveillance inside schools has a disproportionate impact on Indigenous, Black, and other racialized students," the report concluded. "Police in schools may subject Black and other racialized children, and particularly Black boys, to a higher level of surveillance that could ultimately significantly impact their mental health and education."

This type of harm is well documented in Peel. 

In April 2019, many students from Sheridan College appeared before the Peel Police Services Board and expressed their concerns regarding the discriminatory practices by Peel Police, including racial profiling and carding. They described their negative encounters of being stopped without explanation, being asked intrusive questions and being treated with suspicion because of their skin colour.

Abigail Salole, a criminologist and instructor who researched the SRO program, revealed the negative implications for at-risk youth and described the daily presence of uniformed police officers in schools as intimidating and harmful to their education. 

In the Peel District School Board, about 84 percent of the students belong to a visible minority group, while more than 80 percent of the police officers who were previously assigned to PDSB schools, before the SRO program in the region was cancelled, were white. 

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