Recommendations
Participants supported the recommendations in the CBJS Framework. A recurring theme was the need to address the erosion of trust between Black communities and justice system actors. Participants noted that Black police officers, lawyers, judges, and corrections officers can also perpetuate anti-Black racism as they work and operate in anti-Black systems. Without a nurturing environment, good-faith acts cannot yield systemic change. Anti-Black racism is systemic; it is in the rules, procedures, processes and culture of the justice system. Its removal relies on pluralistic approaches, and it has to be supported by genuine changes in culture. It demands accountability with adequate penalization, as well as co-designing and co- leading alongside Black communities and professionals. The following recommendations are based on the collective responses from participants and information gathered during interviews.
We recommend that the Department of Justice Canada, through the Implementation Plan of Canada's Black Justice Strategy (CBJS), should:
- Establish and fund a Black Community Justice Advisory Council with responsibility for providing strategic advice for restoring trust and respect between Black communities and the justice system.
- Provide funding to support the embedding of anti-racism training into the professional development curriculums of police officers, lawyers, judges, corrections officers, legal policy development, legal services delivery and all other occupations in the justice system.
- Establish accountability with consequential actions and transparency to ensure change within the justice system is progressing and responding to the needs of Black communities. When there remains a lack of progress, the individual(s) responsible should be penalized through performance pay, career advancement or another form of accountability measure. When there is ongoing evidence of anti-Black racism, the perpetrator should be removed from the justice system entirely.
- Commit to taking immediate action on existing recommendations for addressing anti-Black racism in the justice system. New recommendations proposed by the CBJS should include timelines for implementation.
- Collect and use race-based disaggregated data and ensure Black communities and Black legal service providers are fully included in the collection, analysis and dissemination of the data.
- Invest in social determinants of justice by addressing health, education, housing, socio-economic and other needs of Black communities.
- Nothing for us, without us. Co-design and co-develop with Black communities innovative and responsive, Black-centric legal solutions and justice reforms to address systemic barriers and other factors that have contributed to the overrepresentation of Black people as victims and accused in the justice system.
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