Having spent years as a former member of the Edmonton Police Commission, the Alberta Criminal Review Board and the Alberta Association of Police Governance, I have acquired a strong sense of the administration of Canadian justice.
Our premier and public safety minister, yet again, prove to Albertans they are sadly playing to their right-wing base, Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis’s callous disregard for the harsh reality of hate crimes is not evidence-based; it’s wrong. Yet he has audacity to suggest that “freedom of speech” is somehow more important. Then, ordering police to strictly focus on tackling violent crime, theft, illegal drugs, and vandalism suggests police shouldn’t bother with those pesky minority-based hate crimes.
This, despite the fact the Edmonton Police Commission is the body that provides oversight for the Edmonton Police Service (EPS). Yet again, they overstep and use their power to control our police service and our city.
How very embarrassing, insulting and un-Canadian to suggest this is about “opinions and hurt feelings.” We are talking about real, violent hate crimes right here in Edmonton. The facts are clear: This is not about opinions or hurt feelings at all. A simple search of EPS data on hate crimes prove this is a serious issue in our city.
Did anyone in the UCP even do a rudimentary search on the statistics on hate-crime severity or statistics? If so, they would find that police-reported hate crimes in Canada remain at an all-time high, having doubled since 2018 — a whopping increase of 169 per cent. While the broader, multi-year trend shows a massive surge in rising severity and violence. Even when overall annual hate crime reports saw minor dips, the percentage involving physical violence surged.
For example, the EPS reported that 73 per cent of hate crimes were violent. In Edmonton alone, the five most-targeted and impacted communities explicitly named in recent official statistics include: the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, which was ranked as the most-targeted group overall in recent annual hate-crime files.
It was followed by Black Canadians, identified by the EPS as experiencing a significant ongoing rise in targeted hate offences, Thirdly, South Asian people were listed among the top racialized groups seeing an upward trend in reported incidents. Fourth, Arab people were statistically noted alongside Black and South Asian communities for experiencing sharp increases in targeted hate. Fifth, the Jewish community was explicitly categorized by law enforcement as one of the most consistently targeted religious groups in the city.
While I don’t disagree that Canadian provinces have the constitutional right to exercise power over non-enforcement priorities through their exclusive jurisdiction over the administration of justice, the simple definition of justice suggests the public safety minister is wrong, or at a minimum, way off-base. (Pun intended).
Justice is defined as the quality of being fair, right, and moral. It means treating all people with equality and giving everyone what they deserve. It also means using laws properly to judge and punish wrongdoers.
Clearly, the minister and our premier fail to understand the realities of fair, right and moral. The facts and statistics are clear. Their comments smack of discrimination. Our government leaders look down at those other Albertans and those of us who are fair-minded, equality-believing, yes, even woke people that understand Canadian common sense and justice.
Yes, that includes our vibrant 2SLGBTQIA+ community, the most violently attacked minority group in the city. It’s sad enough they don’t participate in Pride and only raise our Pride flag for a few hours on one day. Every minority group is being dismissed and filed under “hurt feelings and/or opinions.”
How dare they instruct our police service to ignore the alarming realities that minority groups face in Edmonton. I respectfully suggest that the minister and our premier should apologize and reverse their discriminatory dictates dismissing hate-crime initiatives while attacks on minority groups in our city continue to escalate.
Hate-crime initiatives must continue. EPS should continue their fine work and focus on crime, hate crimes included.
Murray Billet is a former member of the Edmonton Police Commission.
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