A Milton student is holding a protest and march on Saturday, August 22nd.
The Police and Prison Abolition March is being organized to bring attention to conditions in correctional facilities.
March-organizer Zainab Fatima talks about what she expects to achieve with the protest.
She says mental health is not a primary focus for guards in correctional facilities, nor officers in the field.
Using examples like the deaths of Ejaz Chaudhry and Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Fatima feels wellness checks should be in the hands of mental health experts who solely focus on improving the lives of the people they work with.
In the month of August, the Halton Police Board has been highlighting their Community Safety and Well-Being plan. The plan was put in place a few years ago in order for the Halton Police to no longer be the go-to source for non-policing issues (such as mental health), but rather, out-source those cases to local programs that are better equipped to handle them.
- Halton Police Board details Community Safety and Well-Being Plan
- Hunger strike at Maplehurst raises questions surrounding treatment of prisoners
Even with that in-place, Fatima feels mental health has taken a backseat in correctional facilities.
The treatment of inmates at Milton’s Maplehurst Correctional Facility has come into the light recently with a hunger strike. The strike lasted for three days. The government then announced more than $500 million in funding over five years to transform correctional facilities across the province.
Fatima stresses that while she understands the initial reactions people may have when they see the word ‘abolition’, the protest is meant to bring attention to the mistreatment that prisoners have allegedly received, as well as victims with mental illness that have had their lives affected by alleged police mismanagement.
The protest is starting at Thompson Road and Derry Road at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 22nd.
Fatima says she’d like for it to mirror the June 6th anti-racism rally, with a march down Derry Road to the Sports Centre starting at 2:00 p.m.. She will then ask for people to speak and share their stories and perspectives.
