London, Ont. city council urges ban on police carding

City councillors in London, Ont. made a bold political statement Tuesday, asking their police chief to put an end to the controversial practice of random street checks.

Politicians gave impassioned speeches before unanimously agreeing to officially request its police services board to ban random street checks, also known as carding.

• Province begins consultations on police carding
• Ontario regulation bans random carding by police

Despite the emotional stance councillors took, the practice may not change, given the support for carding on the police services board. Council does not have the authority to change police policy or procedures.

Coun. Mohamed Salih had a strong message for residents who have been "stopped for no reason" because of the colour of their skin.

"I'm young and I'm black and I will never apologize for that," he said. "I don't want any young person, any young person who looks differently in our community, to ever feel like - because of the way they look or the faith they believe in - they should feel as if they are doing something wrong."

Province bans random carding

The provincial government, this spring, released its final regulations to ban police from randomly stopping people to collect personal information.

It set out what it called "clear and consistent rules" for voluntary interactions between police and the public interactions, aiming to prohibit racial profiling.

Hours before Tuesday's meeting, London police Chief John Pare and the chair of the board, Jeannette Eberhard, held a news conference on the issue of street checks.

Pare says, he's heard the concerns about the inordinate number of visible minorities being carded. He says, London police and the province have taken steps to ensure officers conduct street checks respectfully and without racial bias.

"I have made it clear that interactions with members of the public that are arbitrary, racially motivated or conducted in a biased manner will not be tolerated and members of this police service will be held accountable for any contravention," he said.