Regina mayor urges vigilance against racism; says no plans for police body cameras

Protests in the United States over the killing of George Floyd left Regina Mayor Michael Fougere awestruck.

“It’s just a remarkable response. My only concern at this point is the violence that’s attached to what’s happening. But the right to protest I think is absolutely the right thing to do. What’s happening in the United States (in terms of racism) is absolutely unconscionable,” Fougere said Wednesday on Gormley.

But the demonstrations come as a warning for Canadians. Fougere said people north of the border need to be vigilant against racism and discrimination and extend equal opportunities to those who face it.

“Canada is not immune from the kind of problems in the United States related to racism and we have to work very hard every day to eradicate that,” he said.

As for Regina’s police, Fougere complimented Chief Evan Bray and the force, lauding their work reaching out to the community.

“No one’s perfect and there are bad apples (among police forces). But I do think that our police service … is doing what it can each and every day to let people know they’re safe and we have a service that respects individual rights,” Fougere said.

The topic prompted a question about the merits of police-worn body cameras, an issue that has been raised in the past.

Saskatoon is studying their use in other cities and the police chief has talked about doing a pilot project, said Mayor Charlie Clark. The two mayors regularly appear on Gormley to answer callers’ questions.

Clark said the cameras provide an independent account of police encounters but they come with privacy concerns.

“So if (officers) are going into homes and so on, people’s private lives can be on record as well. We have to balance those privacy issues with the accountability issues,” he said, adding there’s also the cost of buying the hardware and storing the data they collect.

“It’s not a slam dunk answer to some of these issues but it could be helpful and we’re going to continue to take guidance and looking at the best practices to know if that is a good fit for Saskatoon.”

Fougere agreed.

“A few years ago, the cost of storage of data (and) the cameras themselves is significant … This may be a tool to look at in the future but for the moment it’s not something that’s top of mind for us around the agenda right now,” he said.