Not in Canada

Ania Onion Bula

CN: Police Brutality, Violence against Black and Disabled people,

Yesterday a black man with a cognitive disability was accosted and then violently beaten by cops. These days, it seems like every day brings a new story along these lines, except this time, it happened in Ottawa, Canada.

We unfairly and unjustifiably pride ourselves on being better here in Canada. I’ve even had angry people messaging me telling me I am being unfair and spurious in claiming that racist police violence happens here.

They had 5 cops against 1 man.

He was on the ground when they beat him with their sticks.

They beat him so badly, he may not live.

They beat him despite people in the area telling them he was disabled.

They beat him because they didn’t see him as human.

This happened in my city. This happened in a neighbourhood close enough to mine to be one I pass by regularly.

We need to start paying attention. We need to get off our fucking high horse and stop patting ourselves on the back, because better than the genocide that is going on in the US isn’t good enough. Because ignoring the genocides going on within our own borders because the body count isn’t going up as quickly as it is in the US, ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH!

WE NEED TO DO BETTER.

This happens in Canada, and turning away and pretending it isn’t happening is the same as condoning it.

UPDATE: Abdirahaman Abdi, the Somali-Canadian man who was violently beaten by cops in Ottawa has died. His brutal assault is now murder. May he rest in power, and may his family get justice for what was done.

{advertisement}
Not in Canada

About the author

Ania is a disabled, queer, wibbly-wobbly gendery-wendery, social justice activist who is pro-choice, pro-sex work, and neurodivergent. She writes about a variety of issues including disability justice and its various intersections with other axes of oppression, social justice, atheism, as well as commentaries of current events and politics. In addition she shares her fiction as well as her various recipes. She has completed a book, Young, Sick, and Invisible: A Skeptic’s Journey With Chronic Illness, detailing her experiences with arthritis, Crohn’s and the medical establishment. Someday, she plans to take over the world. If you would like to help Ania with that, or you know with basic survival and buying her medication, consider becoming one of Ania's patrons. You can also check out some of her art on Etsy.
{advertisement}

2 thoughts on “Not in Canada”

  1. left0ver1under
    Reply
    1

    Given the history of inaction by Canadian courts and government against the Racist, Corrupt Misogynist Punks, it’s doubtful anything will happen to them.

    The cops who falsified evidence and beat confessions out of David Milgaard, Donald Marshall and others? Nothing.

    The cops responsible for “starlight tours”, driving First Nations people out into the middle of nowhere and forcing them to walk 40km back to town, often without shoes or winter coats in -30C temperatures? Nothing.

    The cops (and crown prosecutor) who deliberately threw a slam-dunk case against a catholic archbishop who raped a woman? No consequences.

    Rampant corruption in the RCMP by hundreds (read: thousands) of their “members” (a euphemism for another word)? Nothing happens, because they get to investigate themselves.

    This sort of crap goes on all the time, and nothing changes.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *