A year to heal: Community, police mark anniversary of Abdirahman Abdi's death

The image ofAbdirahmanAbdi'sbeaten and bloodied body is seered into NimaoAli's memory.

Abdi, a 37-year-old Somali-Canadian man,died after an altercationwith Ottawa police outside theentrance of his apartment building at 55 HildaSt.in Ottawa's Hintonburg neighbourhood on July 24, 2016.

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The shocking confrontationwas witnessed and captured on video by many, including Abdi'sneighbour Ali, who said she now avoids going through that doorway.

WhenI walk here, the image of him lying downbleeding just flashes back to my head and it just makes me weak in myknees.- NimaoAli, Abdi family friend

"I usually shake. It's very difficult," she said."WhenI walk here, the image of him lying downbleeding just flashes back to my head and it just makes me weak in myknees. Most of our neighboursand family avoid entering the front door. They'd rathergo in theside door."

The building's management tried to scrub the blood stains away, said Ali, but itseepeddeep into theconcrete andwouldn't wash off."They had to replace the tiles,"she said.

"It's something that you cannot shake off. His parents had to watch their son bleed to death in front of the doorstepof their building. There's no words to expresshow painful it was."

Ali knew Abdiwell. A close friend to his family, she's often acted as theirspokesperson since his death. Hervideo recording of the incident played across TV screens throughout thecountry as the story of Abdi'sdeath and the subsequent investigation into the actions of police officers that day unfolded.

Justice for Abdirahman

Good things came out of the community's grief, too, Ali said.

The Justice forAbdirahmancoalition formed in the days after his death to demand greater transparency andmore support for people with mental health needs, and tochallenge racial inequality. The coalition has since won awards for its activism.

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FarhiaAhmed, one of the coalition's founding members,said many expectedAbdi'sdeathto further deteriorate the alreadytenuous relationship between police and Ottawa'sSomali community,but that hasn't been the case.

"Of course there's frustration and anger and resentment," she said."There's a fracture in the relationship. However, rebuilding and maintaining a collaborativeand productive relationship with those responsiblefor our safety has been very important to us."

'A community has risen'

Soon afterAbdi'sdeath, coalition members sat down with thechief of police, Ottawa's mayor and Ontario's attorneygeneral to express their frustrationabout what they see as systemic barriers facing members ofracializedcommunities when interacting with police.

Ahmedsaid she's particularly proud of the feedback the coalition gavetothe panel reviewing Ontario's police watchdogs. The panel was led by MichaelTulloch, the province's first black Court of Appeal judge.

"From our understanding they were some of thesoundest recommendations he'd received, and many of them are reflected in what's now hisofficial set of recommendationsto the province," she said.

We're very sad for his loss. Butthankfully, it has not been in vain.- FarhiaAhmed, Justice for Abdirahmancoalition

"Through an extraordinarily terrible circumstance, a community has risen," said Ahmed.

"I never knew him. I never met him. I never saw him. But what I know is that he was a special person, and from working closely with his family I can see where he got his spirit, and I think that the spirit lives on in terms of the legacy that he's left behind," she said.

"We're very sad for his loss. Butthankfully, it has not been in vain."

Difficult discussions

After Abdi'sdeath, the Ottawa Police Serviceput together anoutreach group to engage with members of Ottawa'sSomali community. Staff Sgt.IsobelGranger was picked to lead it.

Navigatingdifficult discussions around race and policing is familiar territory for Granger.Before coming to Ottawa, she was thefirst non-white police officer to join the upper ranks in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

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"It makes perfect sense," she said."I am a conduit between community and police for several reasons. I am a woman. I'm a person from aracializedcommunity. I live in both worlds.I understand the perspectives and perceptions from both sides."

I live in both worlds.I understand the perspectives and perceptions from both sides.- Staff Sgt. IsobelGranger, Ottawa Police Service

Granger said the first job was to let the community know they were being not just listened to, but heard.

"The plan was to listen, sowe listened," she said."A lot of what the community was saying was, 'We want you not only tolisten to us but to hear what we're saying, because you need to know what our lived experiences are.'"

Over thefirst six months of the outreach project, Granger's team spoketo over 1,000 residents, both in groups and individually.

"They wanted to work with us. There was no standoff," Granger said.

One year after Abdi's death

7 years ago

Duration 0:49

Two people who witnessed the death of Abdirahman Abdi talk about the community.

Two residents of 55 Hilda St., Yasmine Abdullahi and Ahmed Hassan, share their memories of Abdirahman Abdi.

Striving to erase bias

Among the issues that kept arising were accountability, racialprofiling and a general lack of trust. Now that the consultation process is over, police plan to use the feedback to build an action plan for what they call "bias-neutral policing."

The police force will also use race datacollected during a traffic stop program, which found officers were pulling over Middle Eastern and black males at a disproportionate rate,as well asa diversity audit, which found women still struggle to get ahead on the force,to build its action plan.

"Our organization has realized, as have others, that there are systemic biases that actually precede all of us, that were there because when thesystem was first created it wasn't as diverse and as evolved as it is now," said Granger.

Perhaps the first test of the evolving relationship between Ottawa police and the city's Somali community will be the trial of the officer accused of killing AbdirahmanAbdi.

Const. Daniel Montsion is facing charges of manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. He'sscheduled to face a judge-only trial beginning in February2019.

Meanwhile those who want to remember Abdiwillgather in Somerset Square Park in Hintonburg on Monday,theanniversary of hisdeath.