This written submission complements comments made previously during our participation in two community consultation sessions. In it, we wish to expand upon our overarching submission that the unjustified criminalization of specific populations, and the role of police in enforcing such criminalization, have understandably impeded, and will continue to impede, relationships of trust and cooperation between those communities and police.
In this submission, we focus specifically on three other communities vulnerable, in their interactions with police, as a result of punitive criminal laws in Canada and their enforcement:
• sex workers;
• people who use drugs; and
• people living with HIV.