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Defund, disarm, dismantle and abolish the police, redistribute funds

There is a lot of work that needs to be done to address the systemic racism existing in our society. Defunding the police is a good place to start. There are many different places that could benefit from having those funds and help improve the lives of all people. We need to focus on the underlying issues that contribute to crime in a preventative manor instead of focusing on policing.


There are many projects and campaigns calling for the abolition of policing. In Ottawa some examples are the NOPE Campaign (No Ottawa Prison Expansion Campaign), The Bell Let’s Talk CPEP (Criminalization and Punishment Education Project) Campaign and others. The continuous police violence against Black and Indiginous people we see happening in Canada and the United States, with much of it happening currently at protests against police violence has been a wake up call and a call to action for a lot of people who were unaware of it before or who thought that it was an issue that did not concern them. Ideas of abolition and defunding the police that were once deemed ‘radical’ are now being more widely accepted by many different people and groups.

Defunding the police is a good step towards abolition. By defunding the police, who tend to get an increased budget every year while we see the funding for social services being cut just as often, more money could be allocated towards affordable housing, education, mental health care and crisis service as well as violence prevention programs. People are starting to see alternatives to policing and prisons that could keep people safe while meeting everyone’s needs and not taking away anyone's lives or rights.



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