Ottawa – June 5, 2020
In response to the events in the United States regarding Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, who was shot in her home in the middle of the night, George Floyd a Black man buying groceries, who was killed by police officers and as well as Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was simply jogging was shot to death, PSAC National Captial Region's (NCR) Racially Visible Action Committee (RVAC) is taking action.
“This is the time for our allies to stand up and support the movement. The death of George Floyd has motivated the American people to act, specifically allies, and so should his death motivate Canadians to stand together.
Prime Minister Trudeau acknowledged that Canada also has systemic forms of racism present in our social fabric; this alone, should enable us to work together to correct the wrongs that have been taking place for far too long,” states Joanne Robinson, Co-Chair for RVAC and Antoine Gomis, Co-Chair.
RVAC is open to meeting with the chief of police to discuss strategies to end police violence and has actively condemned police and authority violence in the community such the death of Abdi Abdirahman in Ottawa, the racial profiling of Jamal Boyce, a black student at the University of Ottawa, who was left on the busiest campus road in handcuffs, by campus security, for two hours, and the recent death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto.
Regional Executive Vice-President (REVP) for PSAC in the NCR, Alex Silas, echoes RVAC’s actions, “This is everyone’s fight. PSAC-NCR is committed to fighting to bring an end to systemic racism and discrimination as they exist in our workplaces, in the public service, and in our communities. We also can't turn a blind eye to Canada’s history of oppression towards Indigenous & racialized communities and we will continue to push for action to address inequality and oppression. Black Lives Matter.”
RVAC members will be attending the rally at the US Embassy at 3pm today. For more information, also read PSAC’s statement on the anti-Black racism.
For more information or to speak with members, contact Jill O’Reilly, Political Communications Officer, PSAC-NCR at 613-808-6523 or oreillj@psac-afpc.com.
psac-ncr.com | Twitter: @PSACNCR | Facebook: @PSACNCR
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