Aggregated News
Ontario’s police watchdog has launched a review of the DNA sampling practices of the Ontario Provincial Police after a complaint alleging racial profiling in the case of 100 migrant workers. The workers were subjected to a testing sweep, even though for many their only similarity to the suspect’s description was skin colour.
It’s the second such systemic review announced in a week’s time, and the third of its kind since the inception of the Office of the Independent Police Review Director in late 2009.
“Allegations that dozens of migrant workers who were asked to submit to DNA tests for a criminal investigation did not match the description of the suspect except for their dark skin colour raises the spectre of racial profiling and Charter rights issues,” Gerry McNeilly, the independent police review director, said in a statement Monday.
At the core of the review is the case from the Tillsonburg, Ont., area where the DNA sweep was conducted in late October 2013 in connection with a police investigation of a violent sexual assault.
Men whose characteristics differed widely from...
It’s the second such systemic review announced in a week’s time, and the third of its kind since the inception of the Office of the Independent Police Review Director in late 2009.
“Allegations that dozens of migrant workers who were asked to submit to DNA tests for a criminal investigation did not match the description of the suspect except for their dark skin colour raises the spectre of racial profiling and Charter rights issues,” Gerry McNeilly, the independent police review director, said in a statement Monday.
At the core of the review is the case from the Tillsonburg, Ont., area where the DNA sweep was conducted in late October 2013 in connection with a police investigation of a violent sexual assault.
Men whose characteristics differed widely from...