Racial Erasure: The Silence of Social Work on Police Racial Profiling in Canada

Abstract

Trayvon Martin’s 2013 murder and the acquittal of his killer by a jury reignited long-standing race problems in the USA, particularly concerning the ill treatment of young Black men. Galvanized by Martin’s death, #BlackLivesMatter directed US social work attention to the urgency of this human rights issue. Scholarly publications called for increased knowledge about racial profiling and for professional social work bodies to speak out against anti-Black police racism. A similar movement arose in Canada following the police killings of Jermaine Carby in 2014, Andrew Loku in 2015, and Abdirahman Abdi in 2016. Black Lives Matter–Toronto took on the fight to resist police killings and the devaluation of Black lives. This article provides a critical analysis of the Canadian social work response to police racial profiling, as a human rights issue. Far from the response seen south of the border, little Canadian social work research has been conducted on police racial profiling, and professional social work bodies have remained silent about ending this discriminatory practice. This silence is in stark contrast to attention drawn to other social justice issues and raises questions about the profession’s commitment to racial equality and the pursuit of a just society. The findings can be used to encourage social work research about police racial profiling to improve the profession’s knowledge base, so that it can meaningfully advocate on behalf of racialized groups impacted by police racism in Canada. The challenges and possibilities for the profession going forward are discussed.