Panel reviewing Ontario's police watchdogs holds public hearing in Ottawa today

As the group tasked with reviewing Ontario's police watchdogs prepares for a Wednesday night public meeting in Ottawa to solicit feedback, anti-black racism groups say they're feeling as though their voices are being heard,but that more work needs to be done.

A review panelled by the province's first black Court of Appeal judge, MichaelTulloch,has been given the mandate to come up with recommendations that"enhance the transparency and accountability of the province's three police oversight bodies, while at the same time ensuring that these agencies are carrying out their work as effectively and efficiently as possible," according to an Ontario government media release.

Those three oversight bodies arethe Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC).

The review panel has been meeting with communities across the province in private sessions as well as 18 public hearings, including one to be held in Ottawa Wednesday at theWabanoCentre for Aboriginal Health.

'Needs to be a lot more work'

On Tuesdaythe panel met inprivate sessions with specially invited community members, including onewho works withOttawa's Somali youth.

The SIU is currentlyinvestigating the death of Somali CanadianAdirahmanAbdiin Ottawa following a confrontation with police on July 24. Some people in the community have said they don't trust the SIU to conduct a transparent investigation.

HodanEgale, vice-president of the Somali Canadian Youth Centre, left the Tuesdaymeeting saying she felt positive about the opportunity for community members to speak out.

Calls for more accountability among police have become urgent since the death ofAbdi, she said, which galvanized community members this summer in Ottawa and elsewherewith solidarity protests in bothMontrealandTorontoled by the group Black Lives Matter.

"I would say the current relationship [with police]is broken," saidEgale.

"There needs to be a lot more work done for the trust to be rebuilt again."

Making SIU findings public a common theme

One of their key recommendations toTullochwasfor the SIU's findings to be made public.

"We need to be more transparent, with better accountability, so that these issues don't happen again," she said.

That's been a frequent theme heard across the province, according to session facilitator Pamela Grant.

The review panel was announced in April, in the wake of growing concern over several deaths involving black men, and in particularthe police shooting of 45-year-old AndrewLokuin Toronto,which led to protests in front of police headquarters and pickets outside Premier KathleenWynne'shome.

"There was something that needed to be looked at," said Grant. "It was a crisis."

'People felt their voices were heard'

The private sessions give some communities a chance to feel comfortable enough to speak plainly about their experiences, she said.

ParticipantMoudaneDaahirsaid she appreciated that opportunity.

"What stuck out to me is that people felt their voices were heard," she said.

FarhiaAhmeda member ofthe Justice forAbdirahmanCoalition, which is calling for a more transparent investigation intoAbdi'sdeath agreedthe community has been needing an outlet.

"This is quite a timely review and the community is quite eager to have their voice heard," Ahmed said.

The meeting comes on the heels of the release ofa new report on police traffic stops suggesting Middle Eastern and black drivers particularly young men were far more likely to be stopped by Ottawa police than other drivers.

Recommendations expected by March 31

The review of police oversight agencies is tasked tocome up with recommendations by March31, 2017.

The onus will then be on the province to put the panel's recommendations into action, Grant said.

Public hearings are being streamed live on the panel's website.

Members of the public can also use the site to send in their comments on the subject until December.