'Stop killing Black men,' says family as inquest calls for Ontario to boost police anti-racism training

Acoroner's jury probing the police shooting deathof a Black man in mental distress seven years ago is calling on police forces across Ontario to strengthen training inanti-Black racism, implicit bias and mental health awareness.

The jurors' 35 recommendations released last Friday arealso aimed atthe Ministry of the Solicitor General, Peel Regional Police and the Peel Housing Corporation. They came outafter almost three weeks oftestimonyin an inquest intothe death ofMarcBoekwa Diza Ekambaof Mississauga, who was 22 at the time.

You can read all 35 recommendations at the end of this story.

"I am grateful for the work and recommendations of the coroner's jury but nothing they do can bring Marc back to us," Chanel Felizor, Ekamba's sister, said in a statement.

"I just want the police to stop killing Black men."

19 shots fired

The coroner's jury wastold Peel Regional Police officers shot Ekamba11 times in his Mississauga public housing unit on March 20, 2015while responding to a neighbour's complaint.They opened fire afterEkambastabbed two of the officers with a kitchen knife, and refused to drop it. There were 19 shots fired in all.A woman who lived next door was alsobadlyinjured.

The provincial police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU),found there were no grounds for criminal charges against the officers. But advocates sayEkambaand his family had shown signs of mental distress and if they'd gotten the help they needed, police intervention would not have been necessary.

Therecommendations come in the wake of several cases in recent years in which people of colour in mental distress have been killedin confrontations with police in the Greater TorontoArea. Last year, the SIUcleared Peel officers of any wrongdoing after they fatallyshotEjaz Choudry, 62, during a wellness check in June of 2020. Police officerswere also present in 2020 whenRegis Korchinski-Paquet, 29, fell to her death from her high-rise apartment balcony in Toronto.

Peel police officers were also cleared in the 2019 death of Clive Mensah, 30, and the 2020 death of D'Andre Campbell, 26 both Black men with mental illness.

"Perhaps the jury, like me, like so many others, are tired of having this addressed piecemeal by piecemeal when people die in encounters withparticular police services in Ontario," saidJennifer Chambers, the executive director of Empowerment Council, an advocacy group thatparticipates in inquests involving people in crisis killed by police.

SIU report

According to the SIUreport, on March20 2015 at 10:00 p.m., Peel officers respondedto a complaint at3070 Queen Frederica Dr. A neighbour had said Ekamba's mother had called her a "witch," had threatened her with death and had thrown a knife at her.

The report says the officers triedto arrestEkamba and his mother, saying theybelieved they had grounds to do both. Ekamba then responded by attacking policewith theknife, the report said. Hs motherstruck one of the officers on the head with a metal pot, allowingEkamba toslipfree. Hereturnedknife-in-handand screamed at the officers to release his mother. Policethen drew their firearms and ordered Ekamba to stop. When he didn't, the report says all three officers fired their weapons.

According to theToronto Star, officers testified at the inquest that race was not a factor, the victims purported mental state did not affect their approach and they wouldn't have done anything differently. It was also reported thatat the time, one of the officers had "very minimal" training on how to handle mental health-related calls and racialized communities in crisis, and that they used node-escalation techniques.

Recommendations

The jury's recommendations also include:

• Commissioning a study on the creation and implementation of a province-wide, civilian-ledsystem to respond to persons in crisis, staffed by mental health andcrisis intervention professionals, and persons with "lived experience."
• Establishingadvisory or standing committees on race, impartial policing and mental health for all police services and boards.
• Special recognition in the province's Use of Force policing framework for the unique challenges Black people who have serious mental health issues face when they interactwith police.

Many of the recommendations have been made before, and implemented to some extent, following the police shooting deaths of other Black men in mental distress such as Andrew Lokuaccording to Kinglsey Gilliam, spokesperson for the Black Action Defense Committee.

However, Gilliam says there's still much more work to be done to shift the onus of mental health responsefrom policeto trained professionals. He says the strong wording that directs named parties to"allocate funding and resources" to implement all 35 recommendationscould be key to getting there.

"Institutions often want to have the discretion on whether to implement or not implement," said Gilliam.

"And that is what was being taken out of this."

Response to recommendations

CBC reached out to Peel Regional Police, the Ministry of the Solicitor General, and Peel Region's housing department for comment.

In a statement, Peel Housing Corporation manager Andrea Warren says the organizationhasn't formally received the recommendations yet, but is "looking forward to receiving and reviewing" them.

Const.AkhilMooken, a spokesperson withPeel Regional Police,says while the service supported a number of recommendations, it also tried to ensure that they were allrelevant to the inquest, implementable and would"effect positive change."

"This sometimes involves ensuring the language is clear and the recommendation is drafted in a way that is realistic for us to implement," saidMooken.

In a written response, Brent Ross, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General, says the ministry"will closely examine the recommendations put forward by the jury and determine how best to address them."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.