Cancelled armoured vehicle an example of de-funding police: BLM advocates

“People are getting hung-up on the idea of de-funding police.”

That’s according to Kate McDonald, a local activist and educator who has helped lead Black Lives Matter protests in Halifax the past two weeks.

Following the death of George Floyd, and hundreds of documented incidents of police attacking protestors in the United States, calls to defund the police have started to rise up across North America.

Earlier this week, councillors in the city of Minneapolis pledged to dismantle the police service there.

And on Tuesday, Halifax City Council reversed a decision to purchase an armoured vehicle, and reinvest the majority of the money, approximately $300,000 in supporting anti-black racism efforts and initiatives, and $53,500 to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Mcdonald tells The Sheldon MacLeod Show, this is an example of what people mean when they say defund the police.

But Mcdonald says, it’s not about defunding the police, it’s about reinvesting in the community.

“Moving money from one thing to another thing. People are getting hung up on the idea of defunding police,’ she says. 

“But we’re also re-funding community initiatives.” 

DeRico Symonds agrees. He’s a youth worker and community activist who also helped lead Black Lives Matters protests in Halifax. 

“We didn’t need a $500,000 tank. So the resources will be better served in our communities,” says Symonds.

And he says while the symbolism of the move is to divert the money is positive, it’s also important that the money is spent wisely.

“It’s a good thing to be named for anti-black racism, but how it’s going to be spent is also just as important,” he says. 

He notes how easy it was for council to reverse the decision once there was the political will do make it happen. 

“A minority of people in our city control the majority of our assets, resources and money, and it’s actually that simple for people in decision making positions to do something,” he says.

As for next steps, Symonds says he’d like to see local leaders sit down together within the next few weeks and figure out other concrete plans to make HRM better.