Calls for Winnipeg police board chair to step down over use of 'thin blue line' image
Calls for Winnipeg police board chair to step down over use of 'thin blue line' image
A police abolitionist group is calling on a Winnipeg city councillor to apologize and step down as police board chair after using what some consider to be a divisive symbol in a tweet earlier this month.
In a tweet offering his condolences to the families of two Edmonton police officers killed in the line of duty, Coun. Markus Chambers included an image of a 'thin blue line' patch. An hour later, Chambers changed the picture to that of an Edmonton Police Service badge.
A tweet from Winnipeg Police Board Chair Markus Chambers on March 16, 2023, including an image of a Thin Blue Line patch (left) was replaced an hour later with the picture of an Edmonton Police Service badge (right). (Source: Winnipeg Police Cause Harm)
“The image that was selected, I didn’t want that to become the story,” Chambers told CTV News on Monday. “I wanted the expression of condolences to the families, to the community to be the story.”
However, abolitionist group Winnipeg Police Cause Harm (WPCH) says the 'thin blue line' is a divisive and problematic symbol.
“[It] really exemplifies police hostility to the public and demonstrates the ‘us versus them’ narrative, which we think is really harmful,” WPCH member James Wilt told CTV News.
Wilt said 'thin blue l'ine imagery started gaining popularity around 2015.
“There was a lot of resistance to police violence in the U.S. with the emergence of Black Lives Matter,” Wilt explained. “And so, with the rise of the counter-narrative to that, the pro-police narrative Blue Lives Matter.”
Kevin Walby, an associate professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Winnipeg, said the image has since been co-opted by hate groups.
“I think it’s really important to denounce this, the use of this symbol, which is so clearly indexed to hate,” Walby told CTV News. “And whether or not the councillor knows that, whether or not the city council knows that, it’s very clear. It cannot be disputed at this point."
Chambers said that wasn’t his intention when he embedded the 'thin blue line' image in his tweet,
“There are still those who sincerely believe that the intent of it was to memorialize fallen officers. That’s the perspective I used it under,” Chambers said.
However, WPCH members want Chambers to be held accountable.
“We would like to see an apology, a denouncing of the symbol, and also Councillor Chambers step down as chair of the police board,” Wilt said.
Wilt said the police board should only act an intermediary between the public and police.
“If he’s explicitly taking these very harmful pro-police stances, [the board] is not really doing that duty,” Wilt said.
“I’m not going to apologize,” Chambers told CTV News. “Again, this is a story about the two fallen officers, not the interest of these individuals who are co-opting this message. The loss of these two officers actively trying to serve and protect our community."
'Thin blue line' imagery has been denounced by law-enforcement agencies throughout Canada and the U.S., including the RCMP.
The Winnipeg Police Service did not respond to a request for comment on its policy.
Photos released by NASA taken from International Space Station show the immense scale of the wildfires in Nova Scotia, with billowing smoke engulfing the landscape.
At the moment, wildfires are burning across six provinces and one territory in Canada — and they’re still spreading in what’s being called an unprecedented fire season. While firefighters work tirelessly to battle the merciless flames and prevent further destruction, scientists say the wildfires are linked to climate change and that this will be the new normal.
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
The Weyburn Police Service (WPS) says it has charged a 27-year-old woman following the theft of several "high-powered" firearms and a large amount of ammunition from a residence in nearby Yellow Grass.
Eight years ago, the Regina Police Service (RPS) embarked on a facility dog program. Now, one of its first recruits officially retired from her career.
A popular beach in Bracebridge is open to the public two days after sewing needles were found in the water, but a second beach has since closed over safety concerns.
Three Toronto men have been charged with attempted murder after they allegedly shot an innocent dog walker in Schomberg, Ont. in a case of mistaken identity.
A dozen sheriffs and Calgary Police officers roamed Calgary's core for three months, but the provincial pilot program is officially over as of this week.
Teachers' groups held a protest outside the National Assembly this morning to voice their opposition against the Quebec government's new education bill.
Gatineau police arrested an 18-year-old man in connection to the investigation into a hidden camera discovered in the washroom at an elementary school.
A wildfire burning out of control on northern Vancouver Island is now estimated to cover 208 hectares, or just over two square kilometres, provincial wildfire officials said Friday.
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
A tweet from Winnipeg Police Board Chair Markus Chambers on March 16, 2023, including an image of a Thin Blue Line patch (left) was replaced an hour later with the picture of an Edmonton Police Service badge (right). (Source: Winnipeg Police Cause Harm)
