Speech to St. Catharines City Council Against Deploying Police to City Beaches

Speech on behalf of the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association to St. Catharines City Council against the proposal to use police for security on city beaches

Thank you mayor and councillors for giving me time to speak this evening. I am Saleh Waziruddin, a resident of St. Catharines and here as a member of the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association.

Amendment 2 from item 10.5 on your agenda talks about an increased police presence at city beaches. The beach strategy survey showed only a handful of comments asking for more police, and all but one or two were talking about police as substitutable with bylaw enforcement, beach ambassadors, or other city staff or security. There were far more people asking for security than asking for police, with one resident even saying “we don't need policing.”

In the Ontario case R vs Morris the judge accepted facts that showed Black and also Indigenous and People of Colour are overpoliced, and this ruins our lives to such an extent that the judge is using it as a factor in sentencing. Some local business owners have been quoted in the media openly saying they want more police to push marginalized people out.

Clearly not everyone feels safe around police, BIPOC LGBTQ2S+ people and many people with disabilities and trauma do not feel safe when there are police around. There is no reason why we can't be able to feel safe when enjoying the beach through using city staff instead for enforcing the rules. Even the police have said they shouldn't be used as a substitute for other agencies and staff.

Please do not ask for a police presence at city beaches, please remember not everyone feels safer around police.