A march to mark the International Day Against Police Brutality wound its way through the streets of Regina yesterday.
The Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism was one of the organizers of the protest.
Coalition spokesman Bob Hughes says many in Regina have had bad experiences with “some police officers”, including racial profiling and unfair treatment of Indigenous peoples.
“Also, I know there is a concern, generally, about the complaints procedure — that there’s not a lot of confidence in police investigating themselves in regards to complaints.”
Regina police spokesperson Elizabeth Popowich says citizens are free to exercise their right to peaceful protest — but that doesn’t mean police agree with the protesters’ statements.
“For someone to criticize our entire organization in that way, I think, is inappropriate. Such things are not the character of our organization and they’re not the character of policing in this country. That said, we are an organization made up of human beings and we are imperfect as every other human being is. But when there are errors or mistakes or concerns about conduct, those are addressed very, very quickly by the systems and the oversight and the accountability that’s in place.”
The march ended at the Regina Police Service headquarters, where organizers spoke with police officials and delivered a list of concerns.
Police say those concerns will be reviewed.