The man whose human rights complaint led to the Traffic Stop Race Data Collection Project says the results aren't good enough.
The long-awaited results of the study - which saw officers record their perceptions of the race of the drivers they pulled over - showed Middle Eastern and black drivers are being pulled over at a disproportionately high rate.
In an exclusive interview, Chad Aiken tells CTV Morning Live he doesn't believe the results are accurate.
“The study from the get-go was flawed and not creditable. It’s set up to focus specifically on traffic stops. Which, in my opinion, if you want to address the issue of racial profiling, you cannot just exclude pedestrians which is a large part of the black community.”
Aiken adds he doesn't believe the study is credible because it was funded by the police service.
He's calling on a "proper" independent study, involving officer's perceptions of pedestrians as well, to be conducted.
“I can’t pinpoint exactly what it will take to fix such a broad issue. What I can tell you is that we need a proper independent study that I can trust and the black community can trust. Something that’s truly independent and it absolutely has to include pedestrians.”
Aiken also says the Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau needs to accept that racial profiling exists in order to fix the issue.
“It’s the same attitude that the Chief had going into the study. In that, ‘regardless of what comes out of the study, there’s no accountability. I will never accept that racial profiling exists’. In my opinion, in order for us to attack it properly you have to accept that the issue exists.”