In The Media

'Will haunt us in the future': Scarborough and North York courthouses face closure by province next year

Interviewed later, Nigel Barriffe, president of Toronto’s Urban Alliance on Race Relations, said removing local access to justice for both victims and people facing charges is an attack on the poor and working class in a city already divided economically.

Barriffe, who spoke at the rally, said Black and other racialized people could pay high costs as a result.

“We all feel really strongly that the government is making a bad decision on this,” he said.

“Why are we again reducing services in the community?”

Canada’s armed forces are struggling to keep white supremacists out, advisory panel finds

The release of their report was condemned Monday as “political theatre” by Nigel Barriffe, president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, who said Ottawa has failed to provide a plan, deadline and funding to root out white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

“It doesn’t seem like the government is interested in really dealing with getting Nazis and white supremacists out of the Canadian Armed Forces,” Barriffe said. “If they were, today they would have come up with an actual action plan, not a plan to come up with a plan.”

Amalgamated courthouse in Toronto 'significant barrier' to justice, critics say

Nigel Bariffe, president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, said people using local courthouses live far from the downtown core and will have to take a whole day off work to make court appearances.

"Many cannot afford the day of lost wages, caregiver costs, and transit fees, so consolidation will end up increasing justice system costs because of delayed cases, increased arrest warrants, and thrown-out cases," he said.

Toronto rally against far-right extremism found in fringe leaders of Freedom Convoy

"We are speaking out against far-right fringe leaders of the convoy who have manipulated COVID anxieties, concerns and hardships to create deeply troubling divisions in society," a press release from the group reads.

The group is a coalition of progressive Toronto labour, anti-racist and social organizations including Urban Alliance on Race Relations - UARR.

Toronto police allege body camera captures officer making race-based, sexual remarks at murder scene

“This is endemic,” Nigel Bariffe of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations said in an interview.

“The Toronto Police Service can make grandiose claims about building bridges with communities that they police, but we continue to see incidents.”

Peel District School Board passes motion for all staff to receive anti-Islamophobia training

“This actually sends a signal that Islamophobia is acknowledged as a problem,” said UARR executive director Neethan Shan. “This intentionally tells everybody, every classroom, every teacher, every student that the school board cares about this issue and wants to address it."

'Upsetting' video raises questions about how Toronto police handled allegation of assault by officer

Nigel Barriffe of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations listened to the 20-minute recording and said it was “upsetting."

“This young man’s rights were being trampled over and over again. For me it’s an example of anti-black racism that continues to be prevalent in the police,” Barriffe said, renewing his calls to defund the police. 

Plainclothes Toronto cop was immediately ‘very aggressive,’ victim testifies over recorded arrest

Nigel Barriffe, president of Urban Alliance on Race Relations, said the incident underscores the futility of improving training instead of overhauling policing.

“You can’t reform that kind of behaviour,” he said in an interview with the Star.

Empowering Black youth to change the world

This isn’t about optics, or even representation for its own sake. Making sure that people with deep roots in Black community are in decision-making spaces is how we ensure that the substance, shape and details of what government does reflects Black experiences. It also builds connections between Black communities and institutions — the kind that let Black people know there is someone they can trust and call who will have their back in rooms they might not get to be in.

Report spotlights how frontline Toronto police are using new Tasers

"This is just putting more deadly weapons in the hands of police," said Nigel Barriffe, chair of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, adding that he believes money spent on Tasers — about $1 million to date — could be better used elsewhere.