National Executive Board Meeting
June 10-11, 2015

Resolution of CUPE’s National Executive Board

Re : Racial Profiling

CUPE NATIONAL WILL:

  1. Oppose the policy and practices of carding and racial profiling carried out by law enforcement agencies in Canada;
  2. Demand that the Mayor of Toronto, Toronto City Council and the Toronto Police Services Board immediately end the practice of carding;
  3. Strengthen relations with civil society organizations representing those at risk of racial profiling, and support their campaigns to end practices which perpetuate it;
  4. Call upon the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to join with civil society organizations in demanding an end to carding and racial profiling;
  5. Educate our members on racial profiling and carding and the impact of these practices on those at risk;
  6. Submit this resolution to the 2015 National Convention.

BECAUSE:

  • Racial profiling and carding by law enforcement agencies at all levels of the state is an invasion of privacy, a form of discrimination, and a violation of Canadian human rights law;
  • These practices put racialized people, Muslims, Aboriginal people and others at a risk of unnecessary questioning, detention, harassment and violence;
  • Carding, which allows police officers to arbitrarily stop and question any person on the street at any time, has repeatedly been shown to target people of colour, especially young black men;
  • The policies and practices of racial profiling and carding contribute to a culture of fear and threaten our communities and our solidarity as workers.