Wab Kinew wants more cops in schools—despite his own work exposing their harm

Quick Overview

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, despite past advocacy against police presence in schools, is now pushing for more police officers in the province's schools, contradicting his previous stance and the documented harm caused by such programs, while community activists and news reports highlight ongoing issues like racialized discipline and fatal police shootings involving Indigenous youth.

Key Points: Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is pushing for more police in the province's schools, despite his history as a journalist and artist who criticized police violence. Kinew is rejecting accusations from the governing party that he wants to defund police, stating he would "never defund the police" (1:18). The video references Kinew's 2010 hip-hop track "Good Boy" which honored Matthew Dumas, an 18-year-old Indigenous youth fatally shot by a Winnipeg police officer in 2005. Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows minority students are far more likely to face disciplinary action, with Black students suspended at nearly twice the rate of white students. News clips indicate that in 2021, the Louis Riel School Division ended its School Resource Officer (SRO) program because students felt 'targeted and unsafe' (2:42). The Winnipeg School Division also cut police from schools 'solely for financial reasons' in March 2021 (1:54). Activists like Cam Scott argue that police presence leads to students being singled out, pushed toward the criminal justice system, and that resources should instead fund school support staff (2:48, 4:41).

Context: The video centers on the political stance of Wab Kinew, the Premier of Manitoba and former Indigenous journalist/artist, regarding the presence of police officers in schools (School Resource Officers or SROs). It juxtaposes his current political position, which includes supporting increased policing, against his past work, which included creating music about police brutality and investigating incidents like the fatal shooting of Indigenous youth Matthew Dumas by a Winnipeg police officer in 2005. The context involves ongoing debates in Manitoba and elsewhere about the efficacy and racial impact of placing law enforcement within educational settings.