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Defund the police. Invest in our communities.

Please do not gloss over the requests in this forum, the emails, and the phone calls you are receiving in numbers to defund the police. I implore you to take these calls for action seriously.

As of 2020, the Ottawa Police Services budget was approximately $358 million, while the combined budget for transportation, libraries, and public health was approximately $316 million. The OPS is grossly overfunded, and yet still ineffective! Instead, the OPS, an institution borne from a foundation based on systemic racism in Canada, perpetuates and represents a system of over-policing that disproportionately harms marginalized communities.

"Reform" is not the answer. We do not need more money invested towards police training programs, or hardware, or oversight, or what have you. We do not need more money invested towards buffing up community-policing alternatives. We need you to develop non-policing solutions to the problems that the OPS is designed to police and criminalize. We need to move away from criminal justice and towards transformative justice. The system itself is not working. It does not make me feel safe. And, as you have been made aware, it does not make folks in other marginalized communities feel safe.

We expect to see a concrete plan, beyond performative politics, to defund the police and INVEST in community-based services and support.

Rest in peace Abdirahman Abdi. Rest in peace Greg Ritchie.

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