This submission was based on a call for input from theUnited Nations Special Rapporteur on summary, extrajudicial or arbitrary executions – Investigation and prevention of unlawful killings by law enforcement officials in June 2005. The submission to outlines increases in police homocides across Canada, racilaized disparities, and Canada’s violations of international human rights standards. The submission was developed in collaboration with families of people who have had a loved one killed by police or who died because of conditions of police custody or due to an interaction with police in Canada,[1] from the following groups:

  • Mothers Coming Together is a collective space co-organized by the Regis 4Ever Foundation, Justice for Anthony Aust Collective, Justice for Jamal, Justice for Tyrell Beals, Incarcerated Voters Ontario, and the Ottawa Transformative Justice Collective.
  • The People’s Tribunal is a burgeoning project, whose initial events have been spearheaded by Laura Holland and family, as well as the memberships of #JusticeForJared, Defund604, P.O.W.E.R., Pivot Legal Society, UBC Social Justice Centre, Care Not Cops, and the BC Civil Liberties Association. The Tribunal is organizing to fill a community need created by the settler colonial and racist abandonment from both the provincial and federal governments with the aim to seek justice by bringing the truth to light and creating networks for care and solidarity among impacted people in the shorter term.
  • Affected Families of Police Homicide Ontario is a group of families calling for changes in policing due to losing a loved one to a police homicide. The group has been working to stop police use force to address mental health crises.
  • Tracking (In)Justice is a law and enforcement, and criminal legal data and transparency project housed at Carleton University which maintains a public civil society database on police killings and deaths due to use of force and custody.

Download the submission here:

UN Submission Extra-Judicial Police Homicide Canada 2025

 

[1] Noted as police homicides throughout the submission.