Introduction

Canada’s Black Justice Strategy (the Strategy) is the federal government’s response to address anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination that has led to the overrepresentation of Black people in the criminal justice system, including as victims of crime. The Strategy will aim to help ensure that Black people have access to equal treatment and equal protection before the law in Canada.

The Strategy is being developed in collaboration with an external Steering Group of Black experts and leaders and in consultation with Black communities across Canada. Community consultations will ensure that the Strategy reflects the diversity of experiences, backgrounds, and regional realities of Black people in Canada, as well as their different intersections such as disability, mixed racial heritage, language, gender, sexual orientation, religion and age. Documenting community perspectives will support the efforts of the Steering Group to comprehensively understand and address the experiences of Black Canadians within the criminal justice system.

The Network for the Advancement of Black Communities (NABC) is one of three community organizations in Ontario and 11 across the country selected to conduct engagement sessions. The federal government sought perspectives from people who ranged the gamut from individuals who were involved with the criminal justice system, family members and loved ones of those involved in the justice system, justice system actors and community members who work with individuals to avoid the justice system and/or work with them after release from incarceration. This report summarizes the findings of NABC’s sessions.

About the organization

The Network for Advancement of Black Communities (NABC) works towards building a strong and sustainable Black community sector through systems change. NABC staffs a team of 7 who work together to provide innovative support to organizations and groups to strengthen their adaptive capacity to be effective participants and leaders in driving positive outcomes for the Black communities locally, regionally, and nationally.

NABC works collaboratively with other B3 organizations through network convening, knowledge mobilization, service coordination, evaluation, learning, policy, research, and smart grantmaking. Critical to this endeavor is our ability to generate collaborative learning, policy analyses, and learning opportunities using data, evaluation, and advocacy in the Black community sector.

Methods

Collaborating with CBJS partner organizations in Ontario

NABC was one of three organizations in Ontario selected to support the CBJS. It collaborated with Jaku Konbit and Think 2wice throughout the consultation planning and implementation process to maximize outreach in Ontario. Each group was required to reach a minimum of 120 participants. They connected with each other weekly via Teams virtual meetings and a What’s App chat group. At these planning and support meetings each organization discussed which groups of people they intended to focus on, shared best practices and lessons learned from previous community engagement work, provided moral support and moments as they undertook an emotionally daunting task. They also shared knowledge, assisted one another with communication briefs, reviewed e-mail drafts, and notetaking and facilitation templates. The groups discussed the best ways to capture information, plan budgets and make effective use of time given the tight deadlines that shaped the entire project. The digital platform Monday.com supported these efforts at resource sharing and project planning. Working collaboratively enabled the organizations to build trust amongst each other, to broaden their perspective and blossom creatively to address logistical challenges as they arose.

Working with host organizations in Toronto

NABC embarked on a multi-fold engagement process. It decided that it was best for organizations who worked closely with the identified populations to host and facilitate the engagement sessions. Given both the tight time frame and sensitivity of the topic, NABC believed that in person group sessions would solicit the most authentic and nuanced accounts.

NABC identified 15 potential host institutions through an extensive search of its network database supplemented with an Internet search for organizations that may not have been affiliated with NABC. Five organizations responded to the e-mailed invitation to participate. After NABC held an information session, two organizations decided that they were unable to facilitate the sessions due to the time constraints. The three host organizations that were able to support the consultations were Midaynta, Urban Rez Solutions, and TAIBU Community Health Centre.

Approach synthesizing the information collected

Prior to conducting the sessions, NABC provided each host institution with a note taking template that contained the questions provided by the CBJS team and suggestions for use. Each institution had a facilitator and notetaker on site. NABC was able to be present for the sessions with Midaynta (conducted in Somali) and Taibu (English Session only). We were unable to attend the sessions with Urban Rez as it was too short notice for NABC to get permission to enter the South Toronto Detention Centre. NABC also did not attend the Taibu (French Session) due to language barriers. Approximately 10 –14 days after completion NABC received the notes from the host organizations.

The approach used to analyze and synthesize the information collected is thematic analysis. The data collected from diverse sources was organized into one document. Read through responses for familiarization and where necessary to anonymize the data. Reading through the data, notes on possible trends and themes in the data were made by paying attention to the pillars and other emerging themes and trends. Data was analyzed for patterns and themes and to establish connections between themes and combining insights from different sources. Similar experiences, potential implications, and recommendations in relation to the pillars were generated.