The municipal council in Truro, N.S., has passed a motion aimed at addressing concerns in the black community after a woman described being approached by a police officer as she took pictures of deer.
The motion passed unanimously on Monday.
Lynn Jones, who grew up in Truro and lives there part of the year, wrote a public letter on Aug. 30 describing the incident as “watching deer while black,” while also detailing poverty and dislocation among her hometown’s black community.
The human rights advocate said she was upset because the officer who questioned her in August indicated to her, her sister and a friend that he was responding to a call reporting “suspicious people.”
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Her letter asked Mayor Bill Mills to address issues including police bias, racial profiling, the need for affordable housing and mental health programs, the establishment of a black community centre and programs for single parents.
Jones and other members of the black community pressed for a meeting that was eventually held on Sept. 23 with members of the black community, the mayor, councillors, and other town representatives to discuss community concerns.
During the meeting, “people told stories of not wanting to be racially profiled and indicated that had to be addressed,” Jones said in an interview.
However, she added, “I didn’t want one police officer or the person who made the call as being the centre of what took place.”
Instead, she said people at the meeting developed a series of wider ideas of how to improve the lives of black people in Truro.
During the gathering, 20 points were raised by participants for potential action, ranging from the removing of employment barriers for black residents applying for work with the town to creating a gathering place for the black community.
“I see the need for a centre for black people as being critical … There’s no place in that town where you don’t have to pay (to meet),” Jones said.
Mills said in an interview that the town has agreed to create a committee composed of black residents and town representatives in a “historic partnership” to develop an action plan.
Once appointed, it would examine the issues raised at the meeting, which also included calls for better communication between the town and black residents, the dismantling of educational barriers for black students and improved funding for black businesses.
In the original incident that sparked the meeting, Jones said she had been with two other women in their old neighbourhood when they spotted the deer.
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She said they pulled over to take pictures.
However while they were watching the animal, a police officer pulled up next to them in a vehicle and told them police had received a call of “suspicious people” in the area, she said.
Coun. Wayne Talbot, a black member of the Truro council, said Jones’ open letter set off a discussion of broader issues in the community.
He said the key result was the passing of the motion on Monday and the plan to form the committee.
Talbot, who’s also chair of the police commission, said he met with the town’s police chief and listened to an audio recording of the call, and concluded the officer had acted properly in responding.
“In our opinion, the officer responded as he is required to do by law. You get a call like that, you have to investigate it, you have to talk to people, you have to be able to close the call,” Talbot said in an interview.
“I understand where Dr. Jones is coming from, having grown up in that community and lived there the majority of her life and then to be considered suspicious,” he added.
Jones said she’s hopeful there will be rapid and lasting changes once the committee is created.
“We need to see real changes or people will just give up right away,” she said.
“I want this town to become the model it should be as a welcoming environment.”
Mills, who has been Truro’s mayor for 23 years, said he also intends to pursue help from other levels of government to promote diversity in his community.
He said he’ll be offering for one more term and he hopes something “substantive” occurs as a result of the committee’s action plan during his final term.