Wellness Within Urges Province to Reject Calls for Police Presence in Schools
Wellness Within is deeply saddened by the news that three people were harmed in a violent incident at Charles P. Allen High School last week. Our thoughts are with students, staff, and parents, as the community recovers from this event.
We also wish to express our distress at the growing pressure for police presence in schools. History has shown that police presence in schools does not prevent violence but instead amplifies harm, particularly for our most marginalized students. Wellness Within supports calls to defund the police, and we urge the Province to provide schools and communities with the funding and support needed to ensure the health and safety of our students and education workers.
Founded on a legacy of racism and discrimination, policing is used as an intimidation tactic demonstrated to increase risk and stress for marginalized students. School boards across the country have recently cancelled or paused policing programs in response to community concerns, particularly from Black, Indigenous, and students of colour who reported feeling uncomfortable with and intimidated by police presence and negative interactions with officers. In Ontario, several communities heard accounts from students who had been mistreated and traumatized by in-school officers, and in the U.S., policing in schools has resulted in Black students being disproportionately arrested and punished, contributing to the criminalization of racialized youth.
Schools should be safe spaces, and preventing violence requires addressing its root causes such as poverty, discrimination, and isolation. The Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) has voiced alarm at the recent spike in violent incidents and cited inequities and inadequate resourcing as contributors to students' stress levels coming out of the pandemic. Wellness Within supports the NSTU’s request for a holistic examination of school safety and the underlying causes of violence. This includes calls for the Province to reverse staff cuts and increase resourcing to enable more teacher-led student supports, prioritize teacher recruitment and retention, and improve mental health resources for students. Wellness Within demands that the response also address broader social supports and community resources.
Wellness Within is a volunteer-based registered non-profit organization that serves women, transgender, and nonbinary people who have experienced criminalization and are pregnant or have young children in Nova Scotia, part of the unceded and unsurrendered ancestral territory of the Mi'kmaq people.
Wellness Within supports people through the full spectrum of reproductive health experience; facilitates workshops and education sessions; develops resource materials; and advocates for reproductive justice issues.
Contact: Claire Rillie, Chair, 902-266-4851 or crillie@gmail.com and Dr. Martha Paynter, Director of Research, 9022927082 or martha.paynter@gmail.com