DNA canvassing of migrant workers not racial profiling, report says

A police watchdog has found that Ontario Provincial Police officers were not racially profiling when they asked a number of migrant workers of colour to provide DNA samples following an alleged sexual assault.

• OPP accused of racially profiling Caribbean migrant workers

Gerry McNeilly, the head of the province's Independent Police Review Directorwho looked into the incident, released his report at a news conference this morning, in which he called the officers' conduct "professional," evoking several cries of "shame" from the crowd.

The incident took place in 2013, when a woman reported to police that she had been sexually assaulted by a black migrant worker and provided his physical description.

McNeilly's report titled Casting The Net says that during the investigation, police requested DNA samples from virtually every local migrant worker of colour regardless of their physical characteristics.

The perpetrator was ultimately apprehended after he refused to provide police with a DNA sample. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

McNeilly has made number of recommendations, including that the OPP must develop a policy to govern how and when DNA sweeps are conducted, and that DNA samples of people cleared of a crime should be destroyed.

ButChris Ramshroop ofJustice for Migrant Workers criticizedthe report.

"We are extremely angered by the result," he said. "We believe they failed as an institution to provide any real understanding of what happened."

Ramshroopsays the findingssendthe wrong message to Ontario residents and police.

"This report and the OIPRD are giving police across Ontario carte blanche to infringe, to violate and intimidate migrant workers," he said.