The Jury has determined Sammy Yatim’s death was a homicide and made 63 comprehensive recommendations.
Most significant among the recommendations concern mandatory peer intervention with whistleblower protection, establishing enduring advisories of members of the affected communities to inform training and policies, a review of the Early Intervention Program that would spot warning signs of officers who may use excessive force and support for community crisis response as well as for families of those killed by police.
YOU CAN REVIEW THE VERDICT AND ALL OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS HERE:
Sammy Yatim Coroner’s Inquest Jury Verdict and Recommendations February 1 2024
SELECTED MEDIA
Anita Szigeti On Metro Morning Awaiting These Recs Jan 31 2024
Asha James – Dr. Bahadi (Sammy’s Mom’s) lawyer speaks to Metro Morning here about the Recs:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/sammy-yatim-inquest-verdict-homicide-1.7102055
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/revisionist-history-of-the-sammy-yatim-inquest
EMPOWERMENT COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE
My client, the Empowerment Council has issued a Press Release, as follows:
February 1, 2024
– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
Press Release
Saving the Lives of People in Crisis
The Empowerment Council is a peer advocacy organization representing people who have used mental health and addiction services. The EC is the only peer run mental health and addiction advocacy organization in Ontario or Canada that regularly acquires standing at inquests when people in crisis are killed by police.[i]
“This inquest was unique, in that it followed the criminal conviction for attempted murder of the officer who shot Sammy Yatim. This was an important development in Canadian policing, but not what the inquest was about, the inquest was about how to save lives going forward – what do we need to do to be sure this never happens again? These recommendations are a blueprint to consistently bring policing practices to a higher standard in Ontario – even Canada. How? What was in these recommendations and why?
- These recommendations call for community involvement in the development, monitoring and delivery of training. ALL police in Ontario are to receive trauma informed de-escalation training, that includes anti bias and critical thinking training. Training must address converging stereotypes that exaggerate certain people’s dangerousness. Because not doing so means that people at certain intersections – like being in crisis and being Black – are going to be victims of police use of excessive force.
- Every police service is required to have a Community Advisory on mental health, so people don’t have to die for a community to change policing.
- The next consideration is what happens on the job. If followed, these recommendations require police to give higher priority to their ethical standards than to the “blue line” of police solidarity. Police across the province are to be trained and supervised to challenge each other if excessive force is used, or if an officer is escalating a situation not deescalating it. Peer intervention is a vital safeguard, and common sense in a high stress job. The recommendations outline the need for positive reinforcement for intervening, whistle blower protection from negative repercussions (from peers or higher ups), and discipline for failing to intervene. At the Toronto Police College they are already teaching this as mutual support, as officers helping each other out of situations that could otherwise go terribly wrong for everyone involved.
- What can encourage or impede the effectiveness of training in de-escalation and peer intervention? If the paramilitary culture of policing is not changed. The police are a public service, part of the community. They are not the military, where there is an enemy, and where acting in concert is required. Police have individual ethical responsibility for what they do and fail to do. These recommendations courageously reference the need to rethink this paramilitary culture.
- We asked, and the jury delivered on recommending an alternative to police when people are in crisis, throughout the province. This alternative must be community based and consent based – something that people actually want to use. The jury also adopted the EC’s stand alone recommendation, which was supported by Sammy’s family, for a community crisis worker to be available on the spot when a person calls 911, a crisis worker who works for a community crisis service, not police.”
- And in recognition that progress in policing can not and should not continue to progress death by death, the jury has recommended the development of a Canadian Centre for Excellence in Policing. Such a Centre must be guided by a Community Advisory.”
Quotation from Jennifer Chambers.
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Jennifer Chambers Empowerment Council Executive Director: jchambers.EC@gmail.com 416-831-0841
Anita Szigeti legal counsel for EC: anita@asabarristers.com 416-504-6544
[i] Credit goes to the Ontario Coroner’s Office for being inclusive of this voice. Results of this have included: all police recruits in Ontario being told to use other words than “drop the weapon” when a person in crisis can not respond to this demand, but instead to say things like “Let’s both take some space, and talk about what’s going on for you”; Toronto police being trained in trauma informed de-escalation; the creation of a Mental Health and Addiction Advisory to the Toronto Police Services Board…
Credit also to CAMH for funding the EC.
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