Black OPP officers call for investigation into systemic bias in probationary evaluations

TORONTO, Oct. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Black Class Action Secretariat has filed a joint complaint calling on Ontario’s Inspector General of Policing to open an investigation into how the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) evaluates new officers, as questions arise about systemic race-based discrimination following concerning allegations from Black OPP recruits this year at separate detachments across Ontario.

Black probationary constables who served in three different regions (southwestern, southeastern, and southcentral), under different supervisors, spoke publicly for the first time at a press conference Wednesday about a strikingly similar pattern of discrimination at their detachments, where they were either the only, or one of only two Black officers. Their shared experiences include:

• Their accents being treated as performance problems
• Their cultural food brought to work ridiculed by their peers
• Being reprimanded for practices that were common among their white colleagues (ie. using their phone’s GPS to navigate while driving)
• Being highly scrutinized, sent for additional training without reason, and over documented for minor issues (ie. passing an address by a few houses when attending a call)
• Told by Coach officers that they “didn’t fit” and/or that “not everyone can be a police officer.”
• Having concerns about bias and discrimination dismissed by their supervisors and union.

Two new recruits were dismissed before the end of their one year probationary period this year, and the third remains on medical leave due to stress. All three dispute that they failed to meet the requirements of the position, as asserted by their supervisors. 

“These new recruits believed in the OPP’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, passed police college with flying colours, and put on the uniform to serve and protect,” said Alain Babineau, BCAS’s Director of Advocacy and Francophone Affairs, and a former law enforcement officer, including with OPP. “Three Black officers working in three separate regions, under three separate supervisors were all treated differently than their white peers, and met with the same outcome. This is not a coincidence – this is a systemic issue.”

In 2024, Ontario’s Inspectorate General of Policing was created, the first role of its kind in Canada, operating at arms length from the provincial government. BCAS is calling on Ryan Teschner, the Inspector General of Policing leading the independent office, to:

1. Investigate OPP probationary evaluation and coaching practices under section 107 of the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019
2. Review OPP-wide probationary outcome data for racial disparities
3. Consider these concerns alongside the ongoing province-wide inspection of police screening and vetting practices which currently covers every municipal police service, police service board, and the OPP itself.

“I take my job, and the standards of that job, seriously,” said “Paul”, an OPP recruit working southeastern Ontario, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. Paul holds a Masters in Criminal Justice, and another in Linguistics. “I’m not asking anyone to lower the bar – I’m asking why the bar, for me, seemed to move every time I met it.”

“From the first day I arrived to report for duty, I immediately felt isolated. I was passed around because no one wanted to coach me,” said “Peter”, who worked in southcentral Ontario and is currently on medical leave. “My sergeant would make fun of how I pronounced words, asking me to repeat things in front of my colleagues so everyone could laugh. Questions I asked as a new recruit wanting to learn were written up as incompetence. When I raised concerns about how I was being treated, I was dismissed.”

“I went into policing after more than a decade in the human service field because I wanted the Black community I come from to see someone like them in that uniform,” said “John”, who was a recruit in southwestern Ontario, dismissed nearly two weeks before the end of his probation. “I was the only Black recruit in my platoon, and even my colleagues remarked on how I could come to work with a smile everyday despite the fact that I was being treated differently from other recruits, and it was obvious I was not welcome.”

“If Black officers face discrimination within their own police service, what does that mean for Black Ontarians who turn to that service for help?” said Nicholas Marcus Thompson, CEO and President of BCAS – the non-profit who filed the complaint on behalf of the three officers. “We support police officers across Canada who serve their communities with integrity. What we oppose is discrimination and abuses of power that harm officers and the public, and undermine trust in policing.”

Photos of the three recruits can be accessed here.

Video of the press conference can be found here.

Media interviews can be arranged with the former officers, speaking on condition of anonymity.

ABOUT:
The Black Class Action Secretariat is a national non-profit organization working to end systemic racism, with a focus on anti-Black racism and discrimination in public- and private-sector employment, formed following a landmark $2.5B class action on behalf of Black federal employees alleging decades of systemic discrimination in hiring and promotion.  www.bcas-srcn.org