Stimulus Connect 6: Defunding the Police

October 20, 2020

Have you considered why most harm reduction and drug policy activists support the movement to Defund the Police? How are harm reduction philosophy, drug policy reform and the movement to defund the police linked? How do the police benefit from the criminalization of people who use drugs? Defund the Police has been a strong rally cry in the US and Canada. #StimulusConnect will discuss why defunding the police is an essential part of harm reduction based practice. Join our Canadian panelists for Defunding the Police, a moderated discussion.

 

Resources

1. Event: Manifestation: Defund the Police! Justice pour les victimes de bavures policières
2. Petition: Reallocate the Calgary Police Service Budget and Reinvest in Our Communities Now
3. Email Zap: Defund the Police
4. Email Zap: CPEP Prisoner Rights
5. Donate: Black Lives Matter Vancouver
6. Donate: Justice for Jamiel after Brutal Beating by VPD
7. Donate: Black Lives Matter YYC Society
8. Defund the Police
9. Defund the Police (international website, Canada page)
10. Defund2Fund Coalition 
11. Criminalization and Punishment Education Project (CPEP)
12. #DefundTheSPVM (Montreal, QC Police) and their 10 Demands
13. noprisons.ca
14. Journal Article: Race, cannabis and the Canadian war on drugs: An examination of cannabis arrest data by race in five cities, October 1, 2020
15. Journal Article: Youthful Discretion: Police Selection Bias in Access to Pre-Charge Diversion Programs in Canada, December 5, 2019
16. Calls for Vancouver Police to stop undermining public health in the DTES
17. Call for the Legal Community to Address Anti-Black Racism
18. Premier Horgan urged to deploy a public health response to housing not enforcement, April  24,2020
19. Opinion: Meenakshi Mannoe: Snap election delays police reform in B.C., September 27,2020
20. Video: Defund the Police, October 13, 2020,
21. Video: Semir Bulle – Save the World by Defunding the Police, October 6, 2020
22. Video: Kate Macdonald and Trayvone Clayton talk with The Coast about systemic racism in Nova Scotia, May 6, 2020
23. Podcast: Crackdown
24. Podcast: Can Harm Reduction and Cops Coexist? September 3, 2020
25. Podcast: A fatal 12-story fall, and a no-knock police search
26. Podcast: Beyond Borders – “Drug War Capitalism”, March 8, 2019
27. RCMP Comment on NS lobster dispute
28. Black, Indigenous people receive apology for systemic racism in Nova Scotia, September 30, 2020
29. Documents reveal details of Ontario police misuse of COVID-19 database, September 29, 2020
30. Black Lives Matter has more support among Canadians than Americans: poll, September 24, 2020
31. Officers feeling stressed due to police abolishment movements: Winnipeg Police Chief, September 24, 2020
32. Alberta government expands criminal charge pre-screening pilot project, September 2, 2020
33. What Defunding the Police Really Means
34. Act Now! Decriminalizing Drugs in Vancouver
35. So you don’t support defunding the police?
36. Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy
37. Call for the Legal Community to Address Anti-Black Racism
38. What Does It Mean To “Defund The Police”? Trending Words In News About Policing

International Resources

1. Pledge: Reimagine Policing: Reimagining Policing Pledge is a call for mayors and local officials to review and reform use of force policies, redefine public safety, and combat systemic racism within law enforcement.
2. Video: Racism and the Drug War by Urban Survivors Union
3. Disability Justice Is an Essential Part of Abolishing Police and Prisons, October 7, 2020
4. We Are Nurses, Not Police. The US Methadone System Expects Otherwise., October 7, 2020
5. The 2020 Uprising: Abolition Gets a Seat at the Table, June 8, 2020
6. Cages Don’t Always Have Bars: How “Reforms” Swelled the Carceral State, August 25, 2020
7. Opinion: The moment to rethink school safety, October 14, 2020
8. Opinion: Can Prosecutors Be Taught to Avoid Jail Sentences? August 25, 2020