How Waterloo regional police collect and use race-based data focus of mini-conference

Waterloo regional police say it has reached the community engagement phase of an initiative looking into how officers collect race and identity data.

For the first time, police are holding what they call a mini-conference to hear from the communityWednesday night.

Les Jacobs is one of the speakers at the event. He is a professor and vice president of research and innovation at Ontario Tech University.

He, along with LorneFoster, who is director of the Institute for Social Research and research chair in Black Canadian Studies and Human Rights at York University,are two human rights experts that are taking part in a three year partnership with regional police to review how local police collect and use race-based data.

Jacobs says the event is not about delivering stats.

"We'll talk about the difference between disparity and disproportionality in analysis and how they both have an important role for sort of moving forward," said Jacobs.

"And in general, highlight what is really the unique strength of the human rights system in Ontario that most of the criminal justice system is backward looking in the sense that the focus is on things that happened in the past and finding justice around those past things."

Policehave been gatheringdata on the way police collect and use race-based data over the last two years. That data hasbeen presented to various Waterloo Regional Police Services Board meetings.

'Need to be on the same page'

The province introduced the Anti-Racism Act in 2017, which mandated the collection of race-based data by public sector organizations. It aimed to eliminate systemic racism and remove barriers that contribute to inequitable racial outcomes.

In 2020, the province mandated police to collect race-related data of individuals on whom they have used force. The mandate put in place was for all public sector organizations, which includespolice.

Geraldine Stafford, manager equity, diversity inclusion with Waterloo regional police and organizer ofthe event, says reaching the community engagement levelis a milestoneand a template for community engagement.

"We really need to all be on the same page in understanding the terms and methodologies, the provincial mandates that allow us to do this work," said Stafford.

"So really how I see this playing out in the future is we break out into mini-sessions and we really dive down into the results of the data year over year, or quarter over quarter and changes or implementations fromthe community can really help inform our work."

Video of the event, including a talk from the speakers, will be made available online ona new website from regional police on Jan. 25.