OPP discriminated against migrant workers in 2013 sexual assault investigation: HRTO
Global News
The HRTO has found provincial police discriminated against migrant workers based on their race when they conducted a DNA sweep as part of a 2013 sexual assault investigation.
The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has found provincial police discriminated against migrant workers based on their race when they conducted a DNA sweep as part of a 2013 sexual assault investigation.
In a ruling released earlier this week, the tribunal said Ontario Provincial Police officers collected DNA samples from 96 seasonal labourers in rural Bayham, Ont., even though many did not remotely match a description of the suspect, aside from the fact that they were all Black or brown migrant farm workers.
HRTO adjudicator Marla Burstyn wrote that though the tests were done on a voluntary basis, police failed to consider the vulnerabilities of the highly racialized community and the power imbalances that could make them feel forced to comply.
Shane Martinez, the lawyer representing the migrant farmworkers, says the decision is the first of its kind to analyze a human rights violation in the context of a DNA sweep, as well as the first to examine interactions between migrant farmworkers and police through a human rights lens.
Patricia DeGuire, chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission which acted as an intervener in the case, says migrant workers are among the province’s most vulnerable labourers and the agency is pleased with the tribunal’s decision because of historical challenges establishing race-based cases.
Ontario Provincial Police say they are aware of the decision and currently reviewing it but that it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.
Burstyn found the officers’ conduct during the sweep was discriminatory because of “race, colour and place of origin,” contravening the Human Rights Code.
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