Systemic Racism in Canadian Policing and Criminal Justice

Racialized Surveillance and the "Self-Fulfilling Prophecy"

One of the most pervasive ways the state manages Black populations is through racialized surveillance. This involves invasive policing practices—such as "carding" (or "street checks")—that make it difficult for Black individuals to exist in public spaces without fear of interruption.

In Toronto, the practice of "carding" allowed police to amass massive databases of personal information from non-criminal encounters. Research has shown that Black youth are targeted at disproportionately higher rates; for example, in some Montreal neighborhoods, nearly 40% of young Black males were stopped and carded, compared to just over 5% of white youth.

This creates what criminologists call a self-fulfilling prophecy:

1. Racial profiling leads to increased surveillance of a specific group.
2. Increased surveillance leads to a higher likelihood of discovering minor offenses that would go unnoticed in other groups.
3. These arrests result in criminal records, which then justify further surveillance and harsher sentencing.

State Violence and the "Proximity to Death"

The policing of Black lives extends beyond mere surveillance into the realm of state violence. Because Black bodies are frequently attributed with inherent danger, they face an accentuated vulnerability to physical and psychological harm. This can manifest as:

• Physical Violence: Being violently beaten by police officers or prison guards.
• Psychological Violence: The trauma of constant scrutiny, which has been linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alienation.
• Carceral Violence: The use of prolonged solitary confinement, which the U.N. has compared to torture.

To be Black in the context of Canadian policing is often described as being "proximate to death".

The War on Drugs and Economic Subordination

The "War on Drugs," which gained momentum in Canada during the 1980s under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, served as a powerful tool for the economic subordination and repression of marginalized populations. While drug use rates were actually declining during this period, the state mobilized a "moral panic" that linked drug crime specifically to Black and Caribbean communities.

This era saw a massive expansion of police powers and the institutionalization of racial profiling through programs like "Operation Pipeline," which trained officers to use racial and ethnic characteristics (such as dreadlocks) to identify potential criminals. The result was a massive spike in Black incarceration; by the mid-1990s, Black individuals were being incarcerated at rates far exceeding their proportion of the general population.

Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Incarceration

Parallel to the experiences of Black Canadians, the criminal justice system is a primary tool of settler colonialism used to manage Indigenous populations. Historically, the North-West Mounted Police (now the RCMP) was established in 1873 to quell Indigenous rebellion and protect the economic interests of white settlers.

Today, "criminal control" remains a method of colonial dispossession, used to undermine Indigenous sovereignty and land rights. This is reflected in the staggering incarceration rates for Indigenous people:

• Indigenous persons make up approximately 5% of the Canadian population.
• However, they constitute almost one-quarter (25%) of the total inmate population in Canada.

This rate of incarceration is even higher than that of the Black population, illustrating how the justice system functions as an extension of settler violence.

Summary of Systemic Disparities

The following table summarizes the disproportionate impact of the criminal justice system on racialized groups in Canada based on the provided analysis:

Exam Note: If asked about the relationship between policing and the economy, remember that the repression of marginalized populations often serves an economic function by managing "disposable" populations and protecting settler/capitalist interests.