Peaceful protest planned outside Hamilton City Hall ahead of police services board meeting
Published July 23, 2020 at 1:02 pm
A peaceful protest and art demo is planned outside of Hamilton City Hall Thursday (July 23) to call for a 20 per cent reduction to the Hamilton Police Services (HPS) budget.
A peaceful protest and art demo is planned outside of Hamilton City Hall Thursday (July 23) to call for a 20 per cent reduction to the Hamilton Police Services (HPS) budget.
The protest, scheduled for 12 p.m., an hour before the start of the Hamilton Police Service Board’s monthly meeting, has been organized by local activists under the banner of Defund Hamilton Police.
Here is a list of some of their demands, particularly as they pertain to HPS:
- We call on the HPS to release accounting on taxes used to surveil & police Black, Indigenous, & racialized communities.
- We demand that the HPS halt purchases of weapons, high tech surveillance equipment, & cease surveilling communities.
- We demand HPS cease ticketing and surveilling of homeless & disabled people.
- We demand that the HPS stop targeting activists & communities pushing back against white supremacists.
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The notion of defunding HPS was batted around at the board meeting last month.
During the meeting, councillor Chad Collins introduced a motion asking for a report on what a 20 per cent reduction to the Hamilton Police Services budget would look like,
In his remarks to introduce the motion, though, it was made clear that Collins’ intention was by no means to defund the police.
“I think those people who are advocating for those reductions need to know what they’re asking for,” he said.
“It’s my opinion that providing less resources for the police prevents or prohibits them from doing their job properly, and ultimately leads to reduced public safety.”
His voiced belief that abolishing the police was ‘nonsensical’ was echoed by fellow board members.
While the board voted to go ahead with the report, many in the community, given Collins’ remarks and those of his fellow board members, consider the move meaningless and not in the true spirit of reform.
A week after the meeting two Hamilton councillors, Ward 3’s Nrinder Nann and Ward 1’s Maureen Wilson added their voices to those calling for reform and defunding of police.
On Thursday’s meeting agenda, there are dozens of communications from local organizations and members of the community looking for meaningful police reform.
Some letters advocate for more body cams while others call for HPS to be defunded.
For more information on the movement calling for HPS to be defunded, can be found at defundhps.com.
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