Defund the OPS; Invest in Communities

Recent events have caused me, as a white, straight and able bodied 27 year old male, born and raised in Ottawa, to question the systems that define our society. I have become aware that the OPS is grossly overfunded, as $360 million for a police force that is known to discriminate and not hold officers accountable, truly poses a disservice to the citizens it is supposed to protect. To make matters more pressing, the OPS is funded at the expense of other more important budget items that can positively impact our community if invested in, such as:

1. Education - teachers buying supplies for their own classrooms due to lack of funding, inequities in different communities for resources made available to them, and student:teacher ratios becoming less and less feasible to provide quality education to all in our city, this is the deepest cut that we can recover from over the long term. I understand that a large amount of this problem is caused at the provincial level, but our city’s budget should value education on a higher level than policing. Better education yields better life outcomes and fewer encounters (and thus need) for policing.

2. Affordable Housing - my personal experience in life was one of inherent privilege, and my current status as a home owner is increasingly uncommon for someone born after 1990 in this city. With this said, there is a housing crisis in our city with record numbers of homeless adults and youth - many of whom also identify with groups known to be unjustly treated by our police. There should be funds reallocated out of the OPS, and into creating affordable housing options for those who earn less, while already living an uphill battle against systems that already place them at a disadvantage in life.

3. Public Health - there should be a vast overhaul of the budget to include funding that will improve the quality of care in our city’s hospitals and medical facilities. There is no acceptable reason or explanation for public health to be funded at less than 1/4 of the funding given to policing ($71 million for health and $360 million for police). We also need to invest in mental health, therapists, and the gamut of other health services that fill needs in our community. Police officers are not psychologists, therapists or paramedics, yet they are asked to fill in these roles and wear these hats, no matter how ill-fitting they may be, and the funding they receive reinforces these unrealistic expectations by closing doors for actual health professionals to serve.

4. Public transportation - the debacle that is known as OC Transpo has plagued our city for decades. Missing/late busses was a regular occurrence when I was dependent on public transport during my time at both of our city’s universities, and still is. Surely, some of our OPS funding can be reallocated to the prolonged expansion of the LRT, the quality of which I am sceptical given the service disruptions since its inception - particularly in winter which we are seeing lasts close to 7 months of the year in Ottawa’s 21st century climate. At the very least, I wonder what difference a $1 million investment in filling potholes could have in this city.

If we must continue to fund police over all other municipal priorities, I recommend using this funding for superior vetting of those looking to enter the force for mental health, prejudices, and other factors detrimental to the common good, as well as to improve training for de-escalation and appropriate use of force, and changing the culture of complacency and lack of accountability when a fellow officer abuses power against a civilian.

I am proud to say I live and was born here, but there is much to improve so that our budget reflects the priorities and values of residents. As an adult who pays taxes to this city, knowing that our police force, which is relied upon for far more that its officers are qualified to provide (through training if not at the very least, temperament of those hired), is funded at the expense of so many more important and struggling areas of our society, I have much to question and suggest to be improved, and do hope my faith in the democratic process is justified.