We also need major reforms to the criminal justice system and to the policies and practices of police enforcement. We need to mobilize against the brutality and discriminatory treatment experienced by those on the so-called margins of society. People of colour and aboriginal people have been especially targeted – and so too have poor women and poor youth. Gay-bashing is a recognized problem in many communities. Policing practices that base the potential for criminal behaviour on a person’s race should not be tolerated.
The criminal justice system and police forces need to be held directly accountable for their policies and actions. They need to be challenged to own up to the systemic discrimination that results in a disproportionate number of aboriginal people and people of colour being mistreated by the justice system and the disproportionate number of aboriginal people and people of colour who end up in prison.