Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 18, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B1 CITY●BUSINESS ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM B1 FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 SECTION BCONNECT WITH WINNIPEG’S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE▼ THE movement to remove police from schools has reached Winnipeg after sweeping across the nation in recent years, beginning with a historic decision by Canada’s largest school division. In November 2017, after nearly a decade of action from students, parents and community members, the Toronto District School Board voted to axe its decade-old, onsite police program. It came on the heels of a six-week review that involved consultation with more than 15,000 students, said Phillip Morgan, an organizer with Education Not Incarceration, a community group. “If we believe that schools are places where people are supposed to feel safe, and where they should access education without any sort of barriers, then it doesn’t really make sense for us to have police in schools. When we know that there are people in our communities who have very different experiences of police, who don’t feel safe around them, who have been harassed by police, profiled by police,” Morgan said in an interview Thursday. “Those histories don’t stop at the threshold of the school entrance, those things are brought into the school. So if we want students to be able to focus and study and have a barrier-free experi- ence, we can’t have police in schools.” Another major Ontario city division followed suit in June 2020, when pressure from community members led the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board to scrap its police liaison program. A campaign led by the Latinx, Afro-Latin- America, Abya Yala Education Network (LAEN) is calling to extend the example struck by Toronto and Hamilton to school boards across Ontario. Also in June, the Edmonton Public School Board voted to conduct its first independent study of the onsite police program (in effect since 1979) but stopped short of pulling officers out during the review. Dozens of members of the public registered to speak to trustees, with many criticizing the board’s reluctance to act, citing the schools-to- prison pipeline and numerous studies depicting the impact of police officers on racialized students as impetus for change. Andrea Vasquez Jimenez, co-director of LAEN, threw support behind the Alberta organizers and demanded both a suspension and an end to the program. Jimenez told the Edmonton board that, in the year since the removal of Toronto’s police-in- school program, suspensions had dropped 24 per cent and expulsions fell 53 per cent (in comparison to the 2016-17 school year), with more emphasis placed on communication with parents, social workers and guidance workers. “Having healthy, equitable, police-free schools is a public health issue, and is a labour issue,” Jimenez said during the June 30 meeting. “Not only are police-free schools fiscally responsible and a professional obligation, but it moves beyond that because it indeed is a legal obliga- tion, it is a human right, and the continuation of police in schools is gross negligence and an ongoing human rights violation on the part of your school board.” Earlier this month, trustees announced the program would be shelved during the review in favour of a “youth enhanced deployment” model, which will have officers continue to work with youth without being stationed in schools. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, a petition from parents, educators and community members de- manding the immediate end of the school liaison officer program and reinvestment of resources into community-led school programs had nearly 3,000 signatures as of Thursday, and has garnered support from advocacy groups. While movements across the country work to diminish the presence of police in school hallways, Winnipeg’s schools are expanding police presence, adding a new officer to the River East Transcona School Division this year. “We’re alarmed that while countless other cities are defunding and reconceiving and dismantling these programs, Winnipeg is only expanding them. We think that is a regressive and dangerous commitment to prioritizing police reach into mar- ginalized communities over health and equity,” said Cam Scott, an organizer with Police-Free Schools Winnipeg. julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jsrutgers Opposition grows to stationing offi cers in schools JULIA-SIMONE RUTGERS S OME school staff say having uni-formed police officers stationed in Winnipeg schools deters racialized students from attending class. Others report being disturbed by what they call victim-blaming presentations on sexting and gang involvement. In one specific critique, a teacher reported witnessing a student in crisis be un- necessarily “physically accosted and put in handcuffs.” Under the Police-Free Schools Win- nipeg banner, more than a dozen school staff, parents and community mem- bers are calling on schools to revisit their relationships with police. The campaign is the latest in Canada to question the police presence in pub- lic schools; in recent months, critics in Hamilton, Vancouver and Edmonton have mobilized against such programs. “We see the school resource officer program as an example of police over- reach and a tool by which to, I think, further infiltrate and profile overpo- liced communities,” said Cam Scott, an organizer with Police-Free Schools Winnipeg. A countrywide policing initiative, the program was introduced to Winnipeg in 2002. It has since grown to include 19 police officers who work in six city divisions: nine in Winnipeg 1; three in Seven Oaks; two in St. James Assini- boia; two in Pembina Trails; two in River East Transcona and one in Louis Riel. The officers typically visit various elementary, middle and high schools. They are equipped with the same uni- forms and weapons as on-call officers with the Winnipeg Police Service. The program is funded by the pro- vincial government, school divisions and the police service. Last year, it cost $2.4 million. According to Winnipeg police codes obtained by the Free Press, the of- ficers’ duties include giving presenta- tions on everything from bullying to drugs, student and parent consulta- tions, truancy check-ins, restorative justice work and “participation in a threat assessment.” Local police and community sup- porters have long touted the program as one that aims to build trust and understanding between marginalized students, parents and police. Two teachers, who spoke to the Free Press on the condition of anonymity, argue it does the opposite. They say it contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline, a phenomenon in which Black, Indigenous and students of colour are disproportionately penalized at school and leads to more encounters with police in the community. Both said the program serves as a public relations branch of the police service. One teacher said his views have largely been shaped by an incident he witnessed in which an officer used force and handcuffs to deal with a student in a crisis situation. He said the officer got involved after the situation had de-escalated. “It not only does harm to students who are Black, Indigenous and stu- dents of colour — like is often talked about, for good reason, but it also kind of creates these really difficult-to- shake labels amongst students who have had experiences with police,” he said. Another teacher said his conversa- tions with teachers and students of colour about their negative experienc- es with officers have convinced him police have no place in schools. He pointed to the Justice 4 Black Lives Winnipeg demands, which include a call on Manitoba Education to cut ties with police. The petition has garnered more than 115,000 signatures in three months. “The question shouldn’t be ‘Should we have cops’? The question should be what supports are more meaningful and don’t have negative impacts on students,” said the second teacher. While the province, divisions and po- lice service have endorsed the upcom- ing three-year program agreement, city council is expected to vote on a motion to approve the contract at the end of the month. Police-Free Schools Winnipeg wants the program put on pause and the mon- ey redirected to breakfast programs and guidance counsellors. Scott said it’s not lost on the orga- nizers that other jurisdictions are reimagining their programs while Winnipeg is expanding its by an ad- ditional officer. In an interview Thursday, Coun. Markus Chambers, who is chairman of the Winnipeg Police Board, said he supports the program’s goal of rela- tionship-building. Chambers added he has committed to increasing communi- ty outreach, dialogue and consultation about policing in the city. When asked about the campaign’s concerns, Winnipeg police Insp. Bon- nie Emerson told reporters she has only ever heard positive things about the program from schools, community members and reviews. “The (officers) are involved in this program because they care about the kids and that we are really supportive of this program because we believe in positive outcomes,” Emerson said. A 2014 evaluation of the program in Winnipeg School Division indicated overwhelming support for the pro- gram. The survey did not break down respondents’ racial identities. Betty Edel, chairwoman of the WSD board, has been a proponent since she got involved in advocating for it in the early 2000s. “Our only relationship in the community with police was coming to arrest one of our family members or friends and that, so we were trying to get away from an ‘us’ and ‘them,’” said Edel, who is Métis. If the program is not operating as it was intended, Edel said she is open to hearing from community members. Emerson echoed those sentiments. The first teacher who spoke to the Free Press said teachers are increas- ingly talking about being actively anti-racist through professional devel- opment and the introduction of more diverse texts into classrooms. “These are all wonderful things and education is absolutely key,” he said, “but to actually practise anti-racism, we need to call into question ourselves and the systems we represent.” maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca Allowing police in schools hurts students, critics say MAGGIE MACINTOSH AND JULIA-SIMONE RUTGERS Group accuses program of deterring racialized kids from attending class JESSE BOILY / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Police Insp. Bonnie Emerson says she has never heard anything negative about the program in which officers work with students. Police-Free Schools Winnipeg calls it police overreach. B_01_Sep-18-20_FP_01.indd B1 2020-09-17 10:37 PM ;