New Democrats seek to ban racial and religious profiling

OTTAWA - Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) has again tabled in the House of Commons a Private Member’s Bill that seeks to ban racial and religious profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and officials.

The bill is in response to concerns raised about the practice of racial and religious profiling, and stems from consultations held by the New Democrats during the 38th and 39th Parliaments. It requires federal law enforcement agencies to ban racial and religious profiling and report to Parliament on their actions, and requires agencies to do an analysis of how racism plays a role in the law enforcement context.

“Racial and religious profiling has been very serious and costly to those who have been its victims. Such actions by law enforcement officers and agencies are based solely on false stereotypes. It is bad public policy and bad law enforcement practice, plain and simple”, said Siksay. “This bill will ensure sound policy and procedure is developed and maintained by all federal law enforcement agencies.”

The bill was seconded by Libby Davies (Vancouver East) who tabled an earlier version of it in the 38th Parliament.