Conversations between the Guelph Police and Guelph Black Heritage Society have continued since June’s march in support of Black Lives Matter, but organizers say it's time for those talks to be made into actual meaningful change.
On June 6, thousands of people from across many demographics filled the streets of Guelph in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, including a symbolic passing of the Guelph Police Headquarters.
Organized by the Guelph Black Heritage Society (GBHS), the rally was intended to raise awareness for issues affecting the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) community and speak out against institutionalized racism and hatred.
“It’s amazing how many people have said to us since that time that they didn’t realize these issues exist within our community,” said Denise Francis, president of GBHS.
Francis said her organization has had a number of dialogues with the Guelph Police Service and chief Gord Cobey since the march, talks which have also included Mayor Cam Guthrie, MPP Mike Schreiner and MP Lloyd Longfield.
Cobey said the concerns of protesters at the march was heard by members of the Guelph Police Service.
“I think it had a powerful impact on the whole community and truth be told on the whole country,” said Cobey. “Clearly the conversations we have had — as a community and as a service — around prejudice, racism and bias. We can all agree it exists and we need to have the discussions required to understand how prevalent it is and how we can work together to make meaningful change.”
There is no doubt that anti-police sentiments have had a big effect on members of the department, said Cobey.
Cobey said the march was a success for the organizers.
“I think it was very effective. I think that it was important that the community had an opportunity to express its voice on what is an incredibly important topic,” he said. “I definitely think it was heard by our members. I think that it really has the potential to be transformational in how we all start to realize that we don’t know what we don’t know. Until we listen and learn and understand the perspective of everyone in our community, we won’t know.”
Cobey has been pleased with the conversations the department has had with GBHS and other community leaders.
“The relationships and the dialogue we have started in June have certainly continued and a lot of the conversations we have had, we really want our service and our community to become an example for others to follow when it comes to making real and meaningful change,” said Cobey.
Francis said she is happy to hear the chief has a positive outlook on the dialogues so far, but that more needs to be done.
“I don’t want to sound like a negative Nancy but I feel like we have been doing a lot of talking and now is the time to see some change. The fact we are even able to have these dialogues is a good first step, but the talking is not good enough — we need to see some changes,” said Francis.
The organization has struck a social justice committee, which has begun to draft a list of goals it would like to see occur in Guelph to promote lasting change.
“We have created a call to action, different things we are expecting, changes we would like to see happen within the community,” said Francis. “Maybe six months from now we are going to pull out the document and see have they been accomplished? That’s how we will really know how change is being made.”
Francis would also like to see more voices come to the table in a more public town hall format.
“While we are happy to be talking, we want to acknowledge there are other voices within the community that also need to be heard,” said Francis.
“We have work to do to make sure we are engaging every part of our community,” said Cobey. “I think we have one really well in certain areas, but what we are learning now is there are areas we need to do better at to make sure that everyone in our community feels not only represented but well served by us.”
