TORONTO – Ontario’s former ombudsman says police street checks commonly known as carding are “wrong and illegal.”
Andre Marin, whose term ended earlier this month, spoke out against the practice in August during public consultations launched by the provincial government. He was still ombudsman at the time.
In his submissions released Thursday, he calls carding “a form of arbitrary detention” that contravenes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and says there’s no evidence it’s an effective policing tool.
He calls for an overhaul of the system, including provincewide training for officers and strict limits on the use of street checks and the retention of data gathered.
The government has said it will regulate but not ban carding.
Community Safety Minister Yasir Naqvi has said it’s not acceptable for police to stop and question a member of a racialized community for no reason then to record that person’s information in a database.
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