Police response and reporting

Research consistently demonstrates that Black communities in Canada experience disproportionate rates of police stops, surveillance, and use of force, producing a relationship with law enforcement fundamentally different from that experienced by white Canadians (Wortley & Owusu-Bempah, 2022). Sharpe (2015) found that Black survivors engage in a racial appraisal process before deciding whether to report harm or seek institutional support, frequently resulting in non-reporting, delayed reporting, or partial disclosure, each of which affects the trajectory of investigations and the likelihood of cases proceeding to prosecution. Families of homicide victims report being treated as suspects rather than bereaved relatives, receiving limited information about investigations, and being excluded from processes that directly affect them, reflecting institutional cultures in which Blackness functions as a marker of suspicion that does not dissolve even in the face of clear victimization (Maynard, 2025). For gun violence survivors, non-reporting forecloses access to victim services and compensation mechanisms contingent on formal police reports, creating a self-reinforcing cycle in which institutional practices that produce mistrust simultaneously undermine the investigative outcomes that families need to access justice and begin to grieve (Sharpe, 2015; Wortley & Owusu-Bempah, 2022). The decision not to report is shaped by intersecting considerations. For Black women survivors, fear of having their own conduct criminalized or their relationships surveilled adds a gendered dimension to the racial appraisal process Sharpe (2015) describes. For Black youth, the likelihood of being treated as a suspect rather than a victim further discourages engagement with institutions already experienced as hostile (Clark, 2025; Department of Justice Canada, 2022). Richardson et al. (2016) document a pattern in which Black male survivors of gunshot wounds are approached by responding institutions as potential perpetrators rather than as victims of harm, a response that deters future reporting and forecloses access to compensation and services contingent on that report, reinforcing a cycle in which institutional practices compound rather than address the harm already done.