Endorsement of the Defining Defunding the Police Report

Wellness Within welcomes and fully endorses the recently released report Defunding the Police: Defining the Way Forward for HRM, prepared by the Board of the Police Commissioner’s Subcommittee to Define Defunding Police.

Wellness Within’s work and advocacy is deeply rooted in our commitment to decarceration and defunding the police. We have called on Halifax to defund, disarm, and dismantle the Halifax Regional Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Policing in Canada is founded on colonialism and is characterized by racism, misogyny and homophobia/transphobia. Too often police are responsible for, violent arrests of parents in front of their children, and the mishandling of sexual assault files.

We urge HRM council to adopt all recommendations put forward in this report. The recommendations to create and fund a third-party reporting program to refer survivors of sexual assault to a non-police community organization and to address funding gaps in sexual assault prevention and response programs are especially welcome and should be a high priority for council.

We look forward to collaborating with HRM council to envision a future beyond policing for our city. 

Wellness Within is a registered non-profit organization working for reproductive justice, prison abolition, and health equity in K'jipuktuk, Mi'kma'ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia).

Contact: Martha Paynter, Chair. 9022927082, martha.paynter@gmail.com