Ontario Human Rights Commission wants to take part in case it says involves racial profiling

The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) is fighting to takepart in adisciplinary hearing against two Toronto police officers, arguingthe case involves racial profiling.

According to the commission, the officers approached four black teenagersafter theyleft their apartment buildingon Neptune Drive in Lawrence Heights on November 21, 2011.Theyouths were about toattend a tutoring session offered by Pathways to Education when they were stopped.

Theywere arrested at gunpoint and criminally charged, butwere later found to have done nothing wrong.

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RenuMandhane, the OHRC'schief commissioner,calls the case "extraordinary."

"Anytime police use of force is involved, guns are drawn, and there areno charges that result from that and there's no allegations these kids weren't doing anything wrong, that's extraordinary," she said Wednesday.

The case came to light thanks to security video outside the housing complex where the teens lived.

One officer can be seen on the grainy video punching one of the teenagers and drawing his gun, while the secondofficer restrained the three other teens.

The OHRCsaysthe Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) found that charges of officer misconduct were warranted, adding that, according to the officers and the teens, the youths"were not misbehaving in any manner."

The OIPRD also found that "the manner in which the youth were stopped and questioned was a violation of their Charter of Rights."

'Corrosive impact'

Mandhane explained why the OHRCwants to participate in the hearing.

"We've been working on racial profiling for over 10 years. We've been talking about the corrosive impact it's had on the community and, in particular, the black community. People still think racial profiling means overt acts of racism, which it isn't. It's systemic in nature and we want to bring that perspective to this proceeding."

But a lawyerfor one of officersargued against human rights commission'sparticipation.

"If you decide to give them jurisdiction, they're going to be showing up in every case where the complainant is a person of colour," woman orLGBTQ,LawrenceGridintold the hearing.

Mandhane said she isn't "surprised the officers don't want us at the table but I am surprised the prosecutor doesn't want us at the table.

"They are meant to be prosecuting in the public interest and our interventions are in the public interest."

Peter Rosenthal, the lawyer representing the four young men, said it was "outrageous how they were treated."

"It's part of the whole problem of carding andoverpolicing of the black community," Rosenthal said. "This is one particular case but it's part of a bigger pattern, unfortunately."

The disciplinary hearing for the two officers is scheduled for the fall.