Carding, which is officially known as the Community Contacts Policy, is an intelligence gathering policy of the Toronto Police Service involving the stopping, questioning, and documenting of individuals when no particular offence is being investigated. The information collected is kept on record in the Field Information Report (FIR) database for an unspecified period The Peel Regional Police employ a similar practice, known as a “street check” and that any personal information gathered from an individual in a street check can be entered into a database that Peel police maintains. Espanola Police call this practice “collection of information in certain circumstances” (CIICC).
Contents
Regina Police Chief Evan Bray claims that the distinction between “carding” and “police-civilian interactions” depends upon whether or not the information collected is recorded.
In summer of 2014, the Toronto Police discontinued the use of physical hard copy cards (TPS 306 Form), officers were directed to enter the information captured during community engagements into their memobook as Community Safety Notes (CSN), which may be retained for a maximum of seven years.
Scope
Controversy
Opposition to carding is widespread, with testimony and a news organization investigation indicating that when practised in Toronto it primarily targets black persons. The Law Union of Ontario has submitted that in its current form, the practice of carding implements a systematic violation of people’s Charter rights, human rights, and privacy rights. The Office of the Ontario Ombudsman believes the practice of carding is illegal.
On October 23, 2015, Ruth Goba, Interim Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Commission Rights Commission, stated that when Hamilton Police Chief De Caire requires police officers to be "stopping, talking and investigating young black males", the Hamilton Police Service is implementing a textbook description of racial profiling. On April 26, 2016, Hamilton Councillor Matthew Green, one of the few public officials in Hamilton to take a public stance opposing police carding, was carded by the Hamilton Police Service. After a fact finding mission in October 2016, the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent expressed concerns that racial profiling is endemic to carding strategies and practices used by Canadian law enforcement.
On November 8, 2016, Mike Ellis, MLA for Calgary-West, said during question period that carding directly violates Section 9 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Oversight
There is an ongoing debate around what ability police boards have to influence carding operations:
Regulation
On 16 June 2015, Ontario announced that it will develop a new regulation to regulate police street checks. The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services have held a series of five workshop-style public meetings across the province:
22 October 2015, during debate in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Yasir Naqvi, minister of community safety and correctional services, announced that regulation banning random street checks will be in place by the end of the fall, and will become part of the Police Services Act of Ontario, and will include:
28 October 2015, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, posted two draft regulations for public input on the random and arbitrary collection of identifying information by police.
30 November 2015, a coalition of community organizations and individuals issued a joint response to the draft Regulation, articulating a rights-based framework for policing aimed at prohibiting Community Contacts that are arbitrary and discriminatory, negatively affecting African Canadian, Aboriginal and other racialized and marginalized people.
8 December 2015, the Ontario Association of Chief of Police’s Board of Directors unanimously passed a submission on Proposed Regulations to the Police Services Act: “Collection of Identifying Information in Certain Circumstances – Prohibition and Duties” and Proposed Amendments to the Schedule to O.Reg. 268/10 (Code of Conduct).
21 March 2016, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, filed Ontario Regulation 58/16: Collection of Identifying Information in Certain Circumstances – Prohibition and Duties, which sets out rules for carding. The Government of Ontario will also launch a multi-year academic study on the impact of carding.
24 March 2016, the African Canadian Legal Clinic, issued a press release stating that the new regulation "fails to fully and finally provide adequate protection for the fundamental rights and freedoms of African Canadians".
12 April 2016, the Board of Directors of the Toronto Police Association, issued a memo to its membership stating that the new regulation is "counterproductive to proactive community engagement and crime prevention".
17 November 2016, the Toronto Police Services Board, revised policy 250: Regulated Interaction with the Community and the Collection of Identifying Information to ensure compliance with Ontario Regulation 58/16, the Police Services Act of Ontario, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). In addition the policy restricted service members from accessing Historical Contact Data, except as needed to provide an auditable trail as required by law (e.g. evidence in a matter before the courts).
Responses
In 2015, Christien Levien, a law school graduate, created Legalswipe, an app that draws from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s “know your rights” handbook, and guides people through police encounters.
Variants
In 2016, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, British Columbia, raised concerns that the Vancouver Police Department's Restaurant Watch program, (also known as Bar Watch or the Inadmissible Patron Program) is a new form of street check or carding.