Defund the Police

The amount of money our city spends on the OPS and the amount of harm they are doing to the community cannot continue. We need to defund the OPS and invest that money in community initiatives that actually support the safety and well-being of our community members, especially those who have been most victimized by our over-policing and criminalization of mental health, homelessness and drug addiction. It is time for a change.

I am disappointed in the responses I received from both Mayor Watson and my Councillor Jeff Leiper who both used the structure of the budget process as an excuse for their inability to act on the calls for defunding of police. Why have we created a system that cannot be responsive to our community's needs? Why do we have a system where the police create their own budget and the oversight to a committee beyond the reach of community members?

The OPS budget of nearly $358 million accounts for 10% of our city's total budget. While we give public health initiatives 1.9%. Library services 1.5%. The fact that the OPS budget has increased threefold over the past two decades, at a higher rate than our other services, is impossible to ignore. They city need to listen to the people who are providing these funds and disperse them to the services that actually make our city safer, healthier and more equitable.