Nova Scotia’s NDP wants immediate moratorium on police street checks

“We don’t think there is a reason to wait,” said Roberts. “The evidence is compelling, the stories are compelling, we believe our fellow citizens, and we want to act now.”

The NDP bill followed a renewed call for a ban on the practice — sometimes known as carding — by federal party Leader Jagmeet Singh in Halifax on Thursday.

But Premier Stephen McNeil said the government intends to wait for the human rights commission report.

“We are gathering the evidence and a decision independent from government to determine next steps,” he said. “But we have said all along we believe the interactions between law enforcement and citizens should be done in a fair and just way.”

Halifax police have said street checks are used to record suspicious activity, but Tiffany Gordon, of Working While Black, said her group wants to get the practice stopped.

“Because they are discriminatory in their application,” said Gordon. “Whether or not the policy of street checks is neutral on the surface, we need to be very careful when we see that there are effects to certain communities that are not justified.”

Ontario banned police checks last year.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Nova Scotia’s NDP wants immediate moratorium on police street checks

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