OTTAWA -- Former members of the House committee studying systemic racism in policing in Canada say they are "disappointed" the proroguing of Parliament has, until further notice, halted their work at a time when it’s needed most.
Liberal MP and chair of the public safety committee John McKay said the conditions were set to make way for a valuable deep dive into the issue, just as the world was in the midst of a mass protest against police brutality.
"I can’t think of anything more relevant or important to not only discuss but also to invite people who are at the centre of the conservation to the table and see whether there are solutions," he said in an interview with CTVNews.ca.
It’s one of the many studies that have been abandoned since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the dissolving of Parliament until Sept. 23, the point at which a new throne speech will be delivered outlining the Liberals’ plan of action for the foreseeable future.
On June 23, committee members unanimously approved NDP MP Jack Harris’ motion to study systemic racism in Canadian policing. This came days after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh brought forward a motion calling on the House to recognize systemic racism within the RCMP and ask for an assessment of police budgets, accountability measures, and officer training.
It also came on the heels of the deaths of Rodney Levi, an Indigenous man from the Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation in New Brunswick, and Chantel Moore, an Indigenous woman from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in B.C., at the hands of police.
Harris said he fears the committee may lose its motivation to study the issue again in late September.
"There was an urgency about it that I think the committee was seized with, and we had an enormous response of people wanting to be witnesses and we heard from a number of them and that momentum might be lost," he said.
"If we had had an early report there would have been an opportunity this fall to press for legislative changes."
Harris said that Trudeau’s decision to prorogue Parliament – which critics argued was done to avoid the scrutiny of the WE Charity scandal – is another example of the prime minister’s "failure" to follow through with substance.
"I will give Justin Trudeau credit for publicly and early and quickly setting the bar very high in the sense of saying ‘yes, we recognize that there is systemic racism in policing in Canada, in our society, we have to move to do something about it,’ well here was the opportunity, we provided that opportunity through the committee."
The group of MPs has already heard from Indigenous leaders, current and former police chiefs, politicians, and researchers.
Asked whether he will take steps to ensure the study is reinstated, McKay said: "Let me put it this way, if it or some version of it doesn’t return in the fall, I will consider it a gross neglect of parliamentary duties on the part of the Commons."
