Information session promoting diversity in policing held in Calgary

An information session encouraging immigrant communities to join law enforcement was held on Saturday in hope of spurring more diversity in policing.

The Foundation for the Voice of Immigrants in Canada for Empowerment spearheaded the event with Calgary police, Calgary Transit and Correctional Services in attendance.

As the organization’s executive director explains, the session was designed to bring diversity to law enforcement while positively impacting immigrants living in Calgary.

“There’s a lack of diversity in the law enforcement agencies and it’s very important to know the culture as it’s a multicultural country,” Ruksana Rashid said. “A lot of people with different backgrounds, and immigrants, they don’t really know and have some fear about law enforcement.”

Rashid says breaking down barriers is a win-win situation for both law enforcement and immigrant communities, especially to help alleviate the fear some minorities have when it comes to policing.

“If we have more diverse people inside law enforcement, definitely this racism, this discrimination, will go down,” Rashid said.