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Toronto’s Police Chief James Ramer apologized Wednesday after data showed his department were more than twice as likely to point a gun at a Black person than a white person—but it backfired quickly. Beverly Bain, a professor at the University of Toronto and member of the No Pride in Policing Coalition, slammed Ramer at the press conference, telling him: “The Black community never asked for an apology. What we have asked for you to do is to stop, to stop brutalizing us, to stop killing us.” The Toronto Police Service’s report contained range of concerning data points regarding the policing of minorities. Ramer said he had a list of 38 items he wanted to implement including “listening and understanding,” reviewing video of use-of-force incidents, revised training, and more data releases. “As challenging as it is for me as chief and for members of our command and service to come to terms with what our data tells us, I know that it will be even more difficult for those from Toronto’s Black communities who have been telling us for many years of their experiences,” Ramer told reporters.
