Media Release
by C. Gwendolyn Landolt. November 12, 1013.
The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) recently released a set of guidelines for police forces in Ontario, for carrying out its dealings with the LGBTQ Community. The principal investigator of this report is a gay man working in the legal profession. He received input for these guidelines from 15 homosexual organizations and 16 provincial police associations.
It is necessary that everyone, including the LGBTQ Community, be treated fairly and equally by way of bias-free policing, in accordance with the resolution by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), adopted at its annual meeting in Vancouver, in August, 2004. The LGBTQ policing guidelines, if implemented, however, will provide special privileges and legal advantages to the LGBTQ Community and, as a result, will discriminate against all others. Some examples of the bias and discriminatory policies recommended in the guidelines include the following:
· Police services to provide affirmative action programs for the employment of transgendered and transsexuals in the police services;
· Police services to provide special compensation, training and education advancement and other incentives and career “laddering” in the police services for the LGBTQ Community;
· Police services to permit absences for the transgendered for their medical assessments and treatments, including counseling, speech therapy and surgeries;
· The transgendered and transsexual detainees to be placed in special accommodation to ensure they have access to “gender-affirming” healthcare, such as prescribed hormones;
· Police services to be involved in the anti-bullying policies of the school boards, even though it is not usually a criminal matter. This is to be done by way of police developing anti-bullying campaigns using social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and You Tube;
· Although disclosure to sex partners of HIV/AIDs is a legal requirement, according to a 2012 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, the report includes a recommendation, by the Canadian Aids Legal Services Network, that police be specially trained to deal with this matter with sensitivity, in regard to the impact on the accused in the media when charges are laid. Further, it is recommended that “unnecessary” investigations of assault by those with HIV/AIDs not be pursued. This would place individuals with HIV/AIDs in a special category in the reporting and laying of criminal assault/offences;
· In May, 2008, Parliament raised the age of consent from 14 years of age to 16 and to 18 years, where sexual activity exploits a young person. The report, however, recommends that police develop special training on this issue because lower courts, between 1995 and 1998, had struck down the legal age of consent, set at 18 years of age, for homosexual acts. This recommendation, if implemented, means that the age of consent for homosexual youths will not be enforced.
The report includes many references to the fact that the LGBTQ Community has a “right” to be an active part of the police services, and be consulted in any matter involving their community. This is a demand for special rights and privileges not available to others.
If police forces implement these recommendations, the LGBTQ Community will be granted a privileged position in regard to the application of the law. This is not acceptable because it is highly discriminatory.