Defund the police and invest in community social programs

Ottawa would be safer for victims of sexual violence and intimate partner violence if we did not rely so heavily on the police. Modern and current policing systems are built with the white, cishetereopatriarchy deeply ingrained in their systems. Ottawa police continued to fail victims by turning them away or creating unsafe conditions for someone to report. Defunding the police would mean more money for community safety practises that address the cause, such as homelessness, and lack of proper social systems. Housing is a community safety issue. Invest in women’s shelters and homeless shelters to support victims who have to flee. Police do not keep communities safe. Police often commit sexual violence against the people they are supposed to protect, particularly Black and Indigenous people, and people of colour more generally. Women of colour, especially Black trans women are particularly victimized. This is unacceptable. We must defund the police and invest in communities.