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This session is held in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery School (Room 020)

Led by Jon Olbey and Bryant Greenbaum

Jon Olbey is a visual artist and a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design. His ancestral routes can be traced to the oldest African-Canadian communities in Canada. Dr. Bryant Greenbaum is a Toronto human rights lawyer and university professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. Previously he was the Director of Legal Services at the African Canadian Legal Clinic in Toronto, and the Director of the Integrated Justice Cluster at the South African Department of National Treasury in Tshwane/Pretoria.

This session reviews the problem of police racial profiling (or “carding”) in Toronto while also explaining the legal structures available to citizens to complain about this problem. The performance uses original illustrations by Jon Olbey, who recorded his year-long journey learning about Toronto’s police disciplinary system, using the medium of comics. Also, insights from Bryant Greenbaum, a human rights lawyer, and university professor, are included in the presentation as he accompanied Jon, helping him navigate the confusing legal terrain of police oversight while also having discussions with him on the effectiveness of the Toronto police oversight system in which police are charged with “policing” themselves.