Conclusion

In conclusion, although we applaud the federal government’s initiative to want to address systemic racism, we believe that the time allotted for conducting the public consultations was largely insufficient. In fact, because of the timeframe chosen (which coincided with the end of the summer holidays and the return to school), many organizations and individuals from civil society declined our invitation to participate in the public consultations due to a lack of time. Even more significantly, “consultation fatigue” was a key barrier that greatly reduced participation rates.

Throughout our public consultations, fear was a common feeling that was pointed out on many occasions. There is no doubt that many people from communities of African descent are very afraid of the justice system for countless reasons, which have been discussed in this report. Essentially, there is a lot of educational work that needs to be done. Communities of African descent must be better educated about their rights and obligations, and people working within the justice system need to be educated on the different cultural and historical realities.