Survey of Hamilton’s Two-Spirit And LGBTQIA+ Community: On Moving Forward with Hamilton Police Service

Following violent events at Hamilton Pride 2019, an independent review of Hamilton Police Service (HPS) was conducted by Scott Bergman of Cooper, Sandler, Shime & Bergman LLP. In June 2020, Mr. Bergman released the report, Pride in Hamilton: An Independent Review into the Events Surrounding Hamilton Pride 2019. The review found that Hamilton Police Service provided inadequate protection of Hamilton’s Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community and their allies celebrating that day, stating “the police response was inadequate —before, during and after the event. This added to the distrust of police in some circles.”

That report made 38 recommendations to Hamilton Police Service and the City of Hamilton to improve policies, training, service provision and community engagement with Hamilton’s Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community. Hamilton Police Service accepted the findings of that report and made a commitment to adopt all recommendations. Three of these direct Hamilton Police to gather the input of Hamilton’s Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community before proceeding:

Recommendation 25—The HPS should retain a third-party facilitator or mediator from a list provided by community members to facilitate future community meetings moving forward.

Recommendation 26— The HPS should consider holding larger town hall meetings to review their action plan, ‘The Way Forward’

Recommendation 27— The HPS should consult with the community to determine if and when it may be appropriate to recreate a community task force/advisory committee.

To collect input from Hamilton’s Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community, Hamilton Police Service partnered with McMaster University’s Office of Community Engagement to commission an independent study by Dr. Tina Fetner, Professor of Sociology at McMaster University.

A brief, open-ended survey was developed to gather input on four questions: the qualities and characteristics that should be sought in a third-party facilitator; the composition of a Community Advisory Panel; the issues that these processes should take up; and a vision for healing and the building of trust between Hamilton’s Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community and the Hamilton Police Service. This report provides an overview of the dominant themes that emerged from the responses to that survey.

Several key findings of the survey of members of Hamilton’s Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community members include:

• A facilitator must have strong connections to Hamilton’s Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community—ideally, they should be a member of this community and have a deep knowledge of the challenges faced therein. Facilitator(s) must be independent from Hamilton Police Service.
• A facilitator should be highly skilled and experienced in mediation and facilitation, and they should inspire trust.
• Members of a Community Advisory Panel must be from diverse backgrounds such that the composition of the panel is intersectional in identity and experience. It is imperative that all members of the Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community will have the opportunity to be heard in any engagement process.
• Any communications should directly address the history of negative treatment of members of Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community by the Hamilton Police Service. The only way forward is to acknowledge the past and make commitments to change.
• A lack of trust of Hamilton Police Service is a key concern. Some participants are concerned that police engagement with Hamilton’s Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community may not be helpful or safe at this time.

To protect privacy, this report will not share information that might identify individual participants. The authors are grateful for the many personal stories that participants shared with us through this survey. Many of these individual experiences include recollections of interactions with Hamilton Police Service, including stories of neglect and abandonment, and incidents of physical violence and emotional trauma. Without disclosing individual stories, we acknowledge the collective feelings of deep pain, fear, anger, hopelessness, and resentment that were present across many responses by community members. We are deeply appreciative that community members shared these stories with us, and we thank all participants for their contributions.

Read the full report.