Recruitment, selection and promotion of visible‐minority and aboriginal police officers in selected Canadian police services

Abstract

The demographic composition of the Canadian police services in major cities generally does not reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, especially with respect to the representation of visible minorities and aboriginal peoples. As many commissions and inquiries on race relations issues in policing have reported, this lack of representation may be a factor that is hindering the effectiveness of police work in major urban centres across Canada. Hence, many commentators have called for increased representation of visible minorities and aboriginal people in the police services through effective recruitment, selection and promotion strategies. In this article, through the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, the authors identify and assess the various staffing and promotional policies and practices of thirteen police services across Canada. Results suggest that there has been some progress in the representation of visible minorities and aboriginal people in policing over the fifteen‐year period of this study. However there is still room for considerable improvement in the policies, practices and culture of police services if they are to become more representative of the diversity of the communities they serve. Sommaire: La composition démographique des corps de police canadiens dans les grandes villes ne reflète généralement pas la diversité des communautés desservies, particulièrement en ce qui concerne la représentation des minorités visibles et des Autochtones. Tel que signalé par de nombreuses commissions et enquêtes sur les questions de relations inter‐raciales se rapportant à la police, ce manque de représentation est peut‐être un facteur qui nuit à l'efficacité du travail de la police dans les grands centres urbains du Canada. De nombreux observateurs ont donc préconisé une plus forte représentation des minorités visibles et des Autochtones au sein des corps de police grâce à de bonnes stratégies de recrutement, de sélection et de promotion. En suivant une méthodologie de recherche à la fois quantitative et qualitative, nous identifions et évaluons dans cet article les diverses politiques et pratiques de dotation et de promotion de treize corps policiers à travers le Canada. D'après les résultats, la représentation des minorités visibles et des Autochtones dans les corps de police aurait connu un certain progrès au cows des quinze années étudiées. Cependant, il reste encore du chemin à faire en ce qui concerne les politiques, les pratiques et la culture des corps de police pour mieux représenter la diversité des communautés qu'ils desservent.

Visible Minorities under the Canadian Employment Equity Act, 1987-1999

“…Work on the status of racial minorities in the public services has shown a persistence of discriminatory practices against visible minorities (Samuel 1997;Perinbam 2000). Among other studies in the Canadian context that provide empirical evidence on the representation gap between whites and racial minorities, without directly relating this gap to racial discrimination, are Jain, Singh and Agcos (2000), and Ornstein (2000). Jain, Singh and Agcos (2000) found significant under-representation of racial minorities in selected police services across Canada and indicated that selection and promotion policies that disadvantage minorities may be responsible for this under-representation.…”

“…Among other studies in the Canadian context that provide empirical evidence on the representation gap between whites and racial minorities, without directly relating this gap to racial discrimination, are Jain, Singh and Agcos (2000), and Ornstein (2000). Jain, Singh and Agcos (2000) found significant under-representation of racial minorities in selected police services across Canada and indicated that selection and promotion policies that disadvantage minorities may be responsible for this under-representation. Ornstein (2000) found a generally pervasive disparity between members of racial minorities and whites in the City of Toronto in pay, employment rates, and other socio-economic indicators.…”

Policing hate crime in a Multicultural society observations from Canada

“…Between 1990 and 1997, for example, the proportion of visible minority officers in Ottawa increased from 2.3% to 8.3%; in Edmonton, the change was from 2% to 5.3%. (Jain, Singh, and Agocs, 2006). The Toronto Police Service has been especially aggressive in recruiting from among key equity groups in the first decade of the 21st century, such that one-half of new recruits in 2006 were from those communities, and one-third were from visible minority groups specifically (BMO Financial Group, 2008).…”

Meanings and Motives before Measures: The ‘What’ and ‘Why’ of Diversity within the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Politie Utrecht

“…Diversity is always implicitly defined, simply by focusing exclusively on a certain group or groups. These groups are distinguished by gender (Dick & Cassell, 2002;Dudek, 2007;Metz & Kulik, 2008;Zhao, He & Lovrich, 2006), sexual orientation (Blackbourne, 2006;Miller, Forest, & Jurik, 2003), ethnicity, race or skin colour (Cashmore, 2002;Jaeger & Vitalis, 2005;Jain & Agocs, 2008;Johnston, 2006;Holdaway, 1998;Holdaway & O'Neill, 2004;Phillips, 2005;Walker & O´Connor, 1999), and religion (Armitage, 2006). Making this variance explicit would significantly lower this barrier.…”