15 Quick Facts You Need to Know About Police Carding In Toronto

It's important for Toronto residents to be informed and know their rights when encountering police.

1. In Toronto, police have implemented 'carding.'

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'Carding' is a system where police can stop, question, document and store information from anyone they choose during non-criminal encounters anywhere in the city.

2. A practice that is comparable to New York’s controversial ‘stop and frisk' program.

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In fact, young black men are carded in Toronto at greater rate than young black men in New York are subjected to a stop and frisk encounter.

3. According to many leading human rights lawyers and legal advocacy organizations, when police stop and collect information from people they do not suspect of criminal activity, they are violating the Charter of Rights & Freedoms.

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Sections 8, 9, 10 and 15 to be exact.

4. Stats have shown that in every single police patrol zone across Toronto, black and brown people are more likely than whites to be carded by Toronto police.

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There are more young black men in the Toronto police carding database than the actual population of young black men in the city of Toronto.

5. This means that police assume black and brown people are more likely than a white person to be considered as ‘suspicious’.

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6. Black children as young as 9-years-old have been carded by Toronto police.

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The Mayor of Toronto, John Tory, admits that carding would not happen to his children, essentially because they are white and wealthy. The question then, is why is it ok for other people’s children to be subject to carding?

7. Many who have been carded have never been given information on their rights by police.

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8. So I guess it's a good time to tell you that carding is actually voluntary, and those being carded can legally walk away—a fact that many Toronto police officers do not share.

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Former police chief Bill Blair refused to follow directives that would require officers to inform civilians of their right to walk away or not talk to the police if not suspected of a crime.

9. Once you have been carded, you are now known to police.

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This means that your personal information has been entered into a database and may show up on police record checks for employment, co-op placement, volunteer opportunities, etc.

10. Police chief Mark Saunders, who is black, is not considering getting rid of the practice.

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He claims that abolishing carding will increase crime in the city.

11. Despite 60 per cent of Torontonians opposing police carding.

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12. While police assert that carding decreases crime in Toronto, there is no substantial data to support this statement.

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13. But Toronto police have assaulted innocent people who’ve refused carding.

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14. And they have yet to give the public any solid reasoning for these practices.

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15. Police carding in Toronto speaks directly to the systemic racism in Canada that is often overlooked, oversimplified and sometimes totally dismissed.

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