Ottawa We Keep Each Other Safe - Alternatives to Policing Forum - June 28th

Updated with the video of the forum! On June 28, we will hold a Community Forum on Algonquin Territory (Ottawa) where we will gather to discuss creating community-led alternatives to policing.

Watch the full video here on Facebook without closed caption: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=694661154719726
Watch Part 1 of the panel here with transcribed english closed captions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fB13hc5UZ8&lt

Community members will propose community-led alternatives to police and strategies to limit the influence and power of police in our community without relying on politicians to “protect us”. #WeKeepEachOtherSafe. This Forum will prioritize the voices of those who are most often targeted by policing and state violence and oppression. These voices include, but are not limited to, people who are affected by colonialism, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, poverty, criminalization and anti-immigrant laws, policies, and practices; people who live with a disability/disabilities; people who are living with mental illness(es); people who experience homelessness; and people who use drugs. Make Sure You Register and use our Email Zap Tool!

Policing is a racist, classist, ableist practice that reinforces colonialism, capitalism, and other oppressive systems among other harmful consequences. Policing was created as and continues to be a tool of racial control, deployed against Indigenous, Black, and other peoples pushed to the margins by the Canadian colonial state. Recent murders of Black and Indigenous people have left so many of us in a state of mourning and rage. Many of us are looking for ways to protect and support one another beyond this moment without relying on an armed force that roams our street, injures, kills, and destroys entire families and communities. The Ottawa police’s track record recounts the history and the present of a police force that always targeted people based on their identities and the skin they’re born in. Join us and let’s organize together to build safe communities free of any form of violence. #WeKeepEachOtherSafe.

WHAT WILL WE DISCUSS AT THE FORUM

How do you define safety, safe communities, and safe spaces?
What makes you unsafe?
What does a world without police mean to you?
What would community-led alternatives to policing need to include and promote accountability, effectively meet the needs of community members, and transform relationships and structures of power to enhance our collective well-being and safety?
How can we centre racial, economic, gender, sexual, disability, environmental and other forms of social justice, along with the principles of universal access, in these community-led alternatives?
What do we need to consider when we are engaging volunteers and participants that would serve as respondents to calls for support? What kind of training should we provide to volunteers? What trusted
community organizations can support this training?
How can we prioritize the safety and well-being of people participating in community-led alternatives?
What do we need to consider when bringing together a group of people responsible for creating alternatives to policing? Who needs to be reflected in the group of people working on creating these alternatives?
How should this group of people make decisions and engage the public?
How do we make sure these alternatives are sustainable?