Welcome to Guelph where we can set up a patio for you in five days but holding a town hall to discuss police presence in our schools is apparently too lofty a goal to be done in five weeks.
The Upper Grand District School Board this week voted in favour of creating a Police Presence in Schools task force, and, in a supplementary motion, endorsed a plan to direct that task force to hold a town hall to get public input on the subject in September.
Of course the original motion was to have that town hall in July, but there were a number of arguments against such a quick turnaround from limited internet connectivity in rural areas of the district, to setting the terms of the task force before they get a chance to meet, to perpetuating old systems without adapting to the moment.
One of the trustees also made the point that holding a town hall now would be likely to only bring out the negative views of police, which is a weird flex because we have lots of town halls on lots of topics, and we don’t worry about only bringing out the negative views.
There’s a problem with that particular assumption, because if we were hearing a balanced diet of positive and negative comments about the police, we would not be seeing an international movement questioning them. The movement is a response to an unwillingness by society generally to hear about those negative interactions experienced by people in our community.
It’s not entirely our fault. As kids we're told that we can always trust a person in uniform, and our popular culture reinforces that with lots of stories about how even the most corrupt and brutal officers have their reasons for killing and brutalizing, none of which ever includes the phrase “systemic racism.”
The “systemic” part is the piece of this that’s the hardest to deal with, and it’s a difficult conversation to have because it means looking at ourselves, and our part in the system that perpetuates racism. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Guelph, it’s that we don’t like having difficult conversations. It starts putting holes in the popular theory that we’re all best friends here; one nation, under Cam, with water bottles and “Guelphiness” for all.
Unfortunately, we have good reason to be suspicious of police. Nationally, Maclean’s has posed questions about how much the RCMP might have been involved with the man responsible for Canada’s worst mass murder. In more provincial matters, this community’s demanded answers from our own police service about why a sitting MP was sat in their holding cells all night and no one knew for three months.
At the same time, many of our political leaders are worried about seeming to harsh on the police. At the Police Services Board meeting last week, members of the board bent over backwards to make sure that a motion to propose a zero per cent increase to the budget for 2021 was because of COVID-19 reasons, and not because anyone in a position to do anything wanted to “defund the police.”
Mayor Cam Guthrie was effusive in his assurances that, “the process needs to strive towards betterment, not punishment,” and while that’s essentially right, the simplicity of that position is a warning sign to a community wanting change that the status quo may be the best they will get it. In other words, we’re still afraid to be too critical of the police.
If that’s the case, then it’s all the more reason to hear from the voices that are critical, and if we’re all to understand the breadth of concern that those people have, then there needs to be more public engagement and awareness.
I understand that there have been a lot of private meetings between community groups and City leaders, including the police. I also know that a lot of people have made their thoughts known one-to-one with those leaders, including the trustees of the Upper Grand District School Board.
We need to have a public forum though because not everyone understands why there are people concerned about interacting with police. Otherwise, this is a debate that stays as static as it always has, with everyone in their corners, and no one willing to move or listen because politics are now open warfare.
Politics also now has the short-term memory of a goldfish, and the fact that the Black Lives Matter movement has been allowed to move for over a month now is something of a minor miracle. But how long can it last? Is putting things off for another three months going to create cooler heads, or is it going to create forgetful minds?
I’m genuinely concerned that this is going to become another Guelph issue where there’s a lot of inspiring talk and not a lot of action. Don’t believe me? Consider all the transit improvements we haven’t gotten, the new main library we have, and all that extra affordable housing we’ve secured…
