Winnipeg Police Cause Harm

@wpgpoliceharm.bsky.social

1166 Followers 277 Following

WPCH is a community-centred police abolitionist group committed to defunding the WPS and reallocating resources to life-sustaining services. https://winnipegpolicecauseharm.org

A poster for a free documentary screening of No Visible Trauma. “Who is responsible for holding the police accountable? No Visible Trauma exposes the Calgary Police Service's abuse of power and discusses the experiences of three individuals and their loved ones' ongoing fight for justice.”

When: Tuesday, March 10th, 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Where: Prairie Theatre Exchange, 393 Portage Ave. #300
Admission: By donation

Doors 6PM
Film 6:30 PM
Community Discussion 8:30 PM

Mask-required event
Wheelchair-accessible venue
Snacks, drinks, and masks provided

There are the logos for WPCH and U of M Centre for Human Rights Research and a QR code.

Three comments on Instagram.

The first: "He was seen licking meat & food in the store and was spitting in peoples faces. Snapped out on meth. Normally I’d side with you as WPS is corrupted & awful. But a good buddy witnessed the whole thing and said it took every one of those officers to subdue him because he refused to cooperate. Funny thing is he told me the public narrative would be exactly what you’re pushing, which is only part of it to show your side/agenda."

The second: "they are showing what is on video. Where's your buddies video?"

The third: "he is referring to me. if you want to see what he was doing I am pretty sure the superstore has all the footage , I didn't record what he was doing but I witnessed everything.. there's always two side to the story, he was openly banging things next to me and walking at people including me which I have to avoid him. On a normal day I would accuse the police as many would do but after seeing everything from both sides And how he resisted arrest and telling people to video and show the world, I see how the system gets abused and puts all the blame on the police."

Two reddit comments. The first says "If you want less crime, reduce poverty with robust social programs, and increase peoples material condition, the best way to stop crime is to remove the carrot that is involved in doing said crime, not by hitting people with sticks." The reply says "
Indeed, more police and being “tough on crime” is proven to not be meaningfully effective at reducing the root causes of crime.

Canadians just rejected Conservatives at the federal polls for similar reasons.

“3 strikes rule?” Nope.

Notwithstanding clause? Nope."

Bar graph of adult remand population over time. The percentage of remand in custody has hovered between 70 and 75% since early 2021

Vertical photo of three people drumming while marching on Portage

Vertical photo of two people standing in front of WPS HQ, person on left holds microphone at the crowd

Vertical photo of large black and yellow banner outside the WPS HQ that reads "abolish the police"

Vertical photo of International Day Against Police Brutality poster on a black street pole in front of the bell tower on Selkirk

The new IDAPB poster, below last year's poster for IDAPB that is scratched out and has a line through it

Photo of a poster for International Day Against Police Brutality on a box outside the WPS headquarters

Photo of square sign that says "Justice 4 Tammy Bateman" in black paint. Above it is another sign that says "ACAB"

Square graphic with black background and mostly blue text squares. The main text, in white font, reads "Art Build! Join us in making signs and banners for the International Day Against Police Brutality rally on March 15th! Please wear a mask." In yellow text reads "ArtsJunktion 594 Main Street, March 8, 1-4PM."

Square graphic with dark blue background and white text. The main text reads: Save the Date, International Day Against Police Brutality, Rally and March. Below that, in smaller font, is the event details. It reads: 3pm on Saturday, March 15, 2025; Police headquarters (245 Smith); to be followed by a free community meal at X-Cues (551 Sargent). In the bottom left is text that says wear a mask. In the bottom right is text that says inquiries? contact WPCH

Comment reads "I'll start, on my social media, the Winnipeg Police Service members in my circle post a lot of MAGA gibberish."

Text from Free Press article: "According to 2023 operational data, Air 1 spent 864.4 hours over 220 days in the air and was dispatched to 1,941 calls, of which 1,459 were deemed high-risk, including 100 vehicle chases."

Screenshot with following text: The warden subsequently led us to the center of the facility grounds here we found a beautiful tropical garden surrounding the facility’s Marae. Our procession was greeted at the front of the Marae by Maori warriors (inmates), The lead Maori warrior was armed with a wooden spear and approached me in an extremely aggressive manner with wild screams, facial expressions and threatening gestures. The warrior came within inches of me unexpectedly laying a large leaf at my feet.
I was instructed to maintain eye contact with the warrior and to slowly pick the leaf up. While I managed to bend

City-produced graphic that says "take the budget survey" and has a series of cartoon budget documents showing the weighing of dollars

Screenshot of leaflet. The heading reads "Polic budget freeze now." There are 6 main points below it detailing the various aspects of the police budget.

Screenshot of CBC article. Relevant text is: "To the mayor's credit, the city budget is transparent about where Winnipeg plans to spend the proceeds of the proposed tax hike. The money that will be raised from 3.5 percentage points of the 2025 hike — about $35 million — will be spent on road repairs and unspecified city operations. This represents no change from 3.5 per cent hikes in 2023 and 2024.

Of more interest is where the cash raised from the remaining 2.45 percentage points of the 2025 hike will go. This cash amounts to nearly $18 million — and policing is not getting the largest piece of the pie."

Screenshot of statement from Art Stannard, linked to in the post. Relevant section is "In 2023, our cop-to-pop hit an all-time low of 167.5 officers per 100,000 people."

Screenshot of CBC article. Highlighted section reads "The police budget will increase $6 million this year, to $339 million"

Square graphic with title in black font "Community-led panel discussion." Most of the rest of the text is in our post. Additional text includes that ASL interpretation and childminding will be available.

Post by Reddit user Loud-Shelter9222. The text reads:

"Deeply affordable rent-geared-to-income housing, supportive housing, transitional housing, safe consumption sites, safe supply, culturally appropriate mental health care, regulations to support food secuirty, youth programming, living wages for community support workers, fully funded mental health crisis response, entry level employment opportunities with living wages, peer support programs, more funding for folks working with gang-involved youth and community members, more funding for supportive employment programs like BUILD and Purpose Construction.

Help people meet their basic needs, including that society cares about them and that they have value, deserve to have a good life, and can overcome histories of oppression."

Vertical photo of several people gathered around a post, taping red posters to it with white text that reads "justice for elias whitehead! love missed remembered" and "to serve and protect who? Winnipeg police are racist killers." On the ground are many lit candles.

Blue graphic with stencil of Elias' face and text describing the art build, includin Oct 14 from 2-5pm and the location of Ellice and Maryland

Graphic with the title "Community meeting for systemic police reform." The event details are in the tweet. Additional text explains that the purpose of the meeting is about a "solution and action oriented presentation on tackling systemic racism in the Winnipeg Police."

Square graphic with white background and outline of red dress. The black text reads "Meet us at Portage & Main, September 4, 2024 @ 12 PM, The community wants answers & accountability for the woman who was struck and killed by a police cruiser, bring your drums & rattles."

That means to realize the police union’s demands, money would have to be reallocated from other areas of spending. When asked what cuts could be made, Sabourin said the association would like to see an end to things such as free WiFi on buses, bus rapid transit, active transportation and — of course — the reopening of Portage and Main to pedestrians.

“There’s a lot of wasteful spending that could create more money to go to things like policing,” he said.

Vertical photo of person wearing orange hat, floral shirt, and white pants/shoes. The yellow sign that hangs around their neck reads "The Winnipeg Police called me a f*g." Behind them is two WPS cars: one black unmarked, the other a marked SUV.

Square graphic with pride flag colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) with the Tuesday Group graphic in the top left and the WPCH graphic in the top right. The text reads "Sunday, June 2nd: We will be meeting at the Louis Riel statue near the ledge and head to march in the parade alongside WPCH around 10:30am. Timeline: 10:00am - Rally starts (@ Manitoba Legislative Build); 10:45am - Rally ends; 11:00am - Parade begins at Memorial and ends near Blue Cross Park (Goldeyes); 12:00pm - Day 2 of the Pride Festival at the Forks begins!

Square graphic with trans flag colours (pink, light blue, white) with the Tuesday Group graphic in the top left and the WPCH graphic in the top right. The text reads "Saturday, June 1st: We will be meeting at the west side staircase that's located in front of the ledge, around the ramps. We will start marching around 10:45 after the opening ceremonies and speakers finish. Timeline: 10am - Opening ceremony + speakers (@ Manitoba Legislative Building) 11am - March to the Forks 1pm - Main stage performances

Photo of two posters on pole. The first one says "Winnipeg Police are racist killers" with a silhouette of a police officer pointing. The second says "the first pride was a riot!" with an image of a brick going through a window.

Square graphic with black and white photo with banner that reads "street transvestites action revolutionaries" and the pink/blue text reads "pride art build - 922 Notre Dame Ave, May 26, 4-7pm RSVP." The logos on the graphic are Tuesday Group Trans Solidarity MB and WPCH.

Graphic with grey background and images of five books being launched. The title of the event is "Book launch, book drive, and social event." You can also bring books to donate to the Prison Libraries Committee.

Graphic with grey background and photo of Gary Kinsman speaking through a megaphone. The poster includes the title of his talk (Against Normality, For Perversity) and a detailed description of the talk. The event takes place on Monday, May 13th, starting at 6pm at Convocation Hall at the U of W. Register for it at CIJS@uwinnipeg.ca.

Square graphic with the pink "silence=death" triangle in background. The large yellow text reads "book launch with author Gary Kinsman" and a smaller image of the cover of the book "the Regulation of Desire." Below it reads "and speakers Tom Hooper, Leon Laidlaw, and Erica McNabb." In white text below says "Thursday, May 16 @ 7 PM, Willow Press, 214 Osborne St." Below that in yellow text reads "dedicated to Gaza & the people of Palestine." In the bottom right corner is a yellow circle and an image of a mask that reads "Masks required"

Square graphic with all caps text that is in red, black, and green. The word "Mayday!" repeats many times. The other text says "international workers' day, workers stand with Palestine, Wednesday May 1, 5:30pm, City Hall, rally and march." Event organizers include CPAM, Community Solidarity MB, and IJV.

Photo of editorial titled "decorum, or deflection?" in print version of today's Winnipeg Free Press

Vertical photo of three people standing atop of stairs, two are holding photos of Elias Whitehead and another is holding a sign that says "Justice for Elias Whitehead." Jody Beardy, Elias' partner, is on the right.

Design with an upside down police car with flowers growing out of it. The colours and blue and white. The text at the bottom says "Winnipeg Police Cause Harm"

Horizontal photo of two posters (the IDAPB poster and the "Winnipeg Police are racist killers" poster) next to red handprints on a white plywood door

Photo of five posters on a stand with various messages including "wellness check" with the image of a gun, "feed kids not pigs," and "abolish the police"

Square graphic with beige background that looks painted on, and red, green, and black lettering. The image shows two thin paintbrushes. The large text says “Community Art Build” and the smaller text says “Graffiti Gallery (109 Higgins Ave.), Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 5:00-7:30PM, Make signs and banners for our IDAPB rally on March 15! Please wear a mask."

Photo of the IDAPB poster and three different pamphlets on brown table. The pamphlets are on green, blue, and white paper.

Square graphic with beige background that looks painted on, and red, green, and black lettering. The image shows two thin paintbrushes. The large text says “Community Art Build” and the smaller text says “Graffiti Gallery (109 Higgins Ave.), Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 5:00-7:30PM, Make signs and banners for our IDAPB rally on March 15! Please wear a mask."

Police(ing) in schools event with speaker Andrea Vasquez Jimenez.
Public Talk on Thursday, March 14 at 5:30pm. University of Winnipeg, Leatherdale Hall, 515 Portage Ave.
Graduate Student Seminar on Friday, March 15 from 2:30pm to 4:00pm, Isbister 335.
Please wear a mask to keep our community safer. Masks will be provided. Bus tickets will be available.

Square graphic with beige background that looks painted on, and red, green, and black lettering. The image shows two thin paintbrushes. The large text says “Community Art Build” and the smaller text says “ArtsJunktion (594 Main St.), Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 4:00-6:30PM, Make signs and banners for our IDAPB rally on March 15! Please wear a mask.”

Square graphic with beige background and red, green, and black lettering. The image shows three people holding hands: one holds a sign that says “abolish,” another wears a keffiyeh, and the third holds a trans flag. The large text at the top says “International Day Against Police Brutality.” Below that says: Friday, March 15th, 5 PM, City Hall, Rally & March! In the bottom right it says: Bring your flags, signs, keffiyehs!, a link of aboli.sh/brutality, and please wear a mask.

The upper right says "Your budget priorities are important" in purple. The smaller text on the left in purple says "More library hours! More public art! Sustained community centres! Less police funding! No pool closures!" The text in white against the purple background says "Join Community Organizers Learning Together as we learn and discuss how to talk to the Mayor and City Council about budget priorities. When: Wednesday, March 6th, 2024, 6:30-8:00pm For more details, RSVP via the link below or scan the QR code: https://forms.gle/6yh8DmX7Xe9RU4JMA