In the 1990s, I worked in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. One of the first pieces of advice I received was that if I got into any kind of trouble, do not call the police.
I am beginning to feel the same with our police force here in Canada.
There have been many videos on TV and YouTube that show the aggressive behaviour of the police. How can a wellness check turn into murder, or a young woman being dragged down hallway by the hair and kicked in the head? The lack of respect of the police towards the public is evident.
I have been saying law enforcement should not have live rounds but clearly even that is not enough to curb the brutality by the police against the Canadian public. The brutal physical force used against Mona Wang in B.C. and the native chief were unbelievable. The Native Peoples of Canada are asking to police themselves and get the RCMP out of their communities, it is time and that is the right decision. Why? because the RCMP have been involved in too many instances that have done more harm than good and too often have been involved in cases where native people have died.
I have called the RCMP on P.E.I. on a few occasions to report a wrongdoing in my community but it was like I was the one on trial. My attitude now is that if someone is doing something wrong and I am witness to it, so what? I will not call the police anymore and subject anyone to the possibility of being hurt by an over-aggressive police force.
This is an old, archaic system of policing based on patriarchal ideals, and it is time to change it completely.
Anne Gallant
Millvale
