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MPs on public safety committee to consider study of systemic police racism

OTTAWA — A House of Commons committee plans to meet this afternoon to consider doing a study of systemic racism in policing.

New Democrat MP Jack Harris has been pressing the public-safety committee to reconvene to get an examination underway.

Harris wants RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, a former Toronto police chief, to be among the witnesses.

The move comes after Lucki said she was struggling with the notion of systemic racism in the RCMP, only to acknowledge its existence days later.

New Democrats have already called for a review of the RCMP budget and for more spending on mental health and addiction supports to prevent crises from becoming police matters.

Concerns about police brutality and discrimination have sparked rallies and cries for change around the world since the killing of a Black man, George Floyd, by Minnesota police.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2020.

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., 2020