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Protestors gathered outside Province House yesterday looking to pressure the government into banning street checks.
The request from the group was simple, to ban the practice, which Solidarity Halifax calls racist and the group of 12 or so protestors stood silently across from Province House, calling for an end to the controversial practice.
Alex Macnab is with Solidarity Halifax, and tells NEWS 95.7 street checks need to end.
"We just want to bring more attention to this issue, we want to put some pressure on Justice Minister Mark Furey to pay attention to this, and to do what we're asking, to stop the racist policies of the police in this province," says Macnab.
Signs held by the group included the slogans "End Street Checks", "Street Checks = Racism," and "Furious With Injustice Minister Furey."
"We just want to get our message out there right now that we're not looking for some type of compromise, or maybe it's okay to use it sometimes scenario, we are demanding an end to this policy, immediately," explains Macnab.
An independent report from the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, conducted by Dr. Scot Wortley, and released last month revealed black Nova Scotians were stopped six times more often than their white counterparts.
Solidarity Halifax says those statistics prove the street check policy is "undoubtedly racist."
Macnab adds there is simply no place for street checks in Nova Scotia.
"The wild racism in our police system, and the continual harassment of black Nova Scotians by the police, so we're calling for an end to street checks," says Macnab.
Meantime, Justice Minister Mark Furey says he could have a decision on police street checks by the end of the week.
He told a committee earlier this week that he was hopeful to have announced something before the end of the spring sitting of the provincial Legislature.
