Race and Identity-Based Data

Kingsley Audu

Natalie Stravens

Yasmeen Mirza

Ateeka Khan

Marlene Dei-Amoah
Marlene has concentrated her social work career in the field of Child Welfare and is currently the Director of Service and Equity at the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton.  Marlene’s portfolio includes the development of an organizational strategy for the implementation of equity, diversion and inclusion.  Marlene has significant community experience through her appointment by City Council since 2012, as a member of the City of Hamilton Committee Against Racism, including fulfilling the role of the Chair from 2017-2021.  Marlene has been a sessional faculty member teaching in the Master of Social Work, Critical Leadership in Social Science and and Communities Programme at McMaster University.

Marlene currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Association of Social Workers and has been re-appointed to the role of Treasurer-Secretary for the 2024-2026 term.  Marlene is passionate about amplifying the voices of Black, Racialized and other equity deserving communities, and will not shy away from engaging in critical and courageous conversations centering on

Hidaya Hassan
Hidaya Hassan graduated with a Community and Justice Services Diploma from Niagara College and a bachelor’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University. She has been a caseworker at Community Residential Facilities for a decade. Her responsibilities include case management, risk assessment, and working with individuals on federal parole. In her role, she specializes in supporting clients with substance use concerns and numerous mental health needs. She also worked with the homeless population, especially in women's domestic violence shelters. Her role involved handling sensitive and intricate cases, where confidentiality and the well-being of the women and children were top priorities. Additionally, she volunteers for the Parole Board of Canada, serving as a volunteer parole officer with the Toronto West Parole Office. In this capacity, she assists parole officers in ensuring the successful reintegration of federal offenders into their communities. She still works in Hamilton as a caseworker for the St. Leonard's Society of Hamilton and pursuing an MA in Public Safety at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Shaila Jamal
Dr. Shaila Jamal is a data enthusiast and currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto and University of Oxford (cross-appointed). For most of her career, she has worked with data in various research-related positions in different academic, non-profit and development organizations. Her research mostly involves topics on urban planning, geography, transportation, housing and sustainability, focusing on equity and racial justice, which involves quantitative, qualitative, and participatory planning approaches.

She is originally from Bangladesh, where she completed her Bachelor's degree in urban planning and worked on various projects for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). She completed her Master's degree in Planning Studies from Dalhousie University and holds a Ph.D. in Geography from McMaster University. Her professional, teaching and volunteer experiences in Canada include working for Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia Health Authority, City of Hamilton, McMaster University, University of Toronto and YWCA Hamilton.

Juanita Parent
Juanita is a Mohawk sister, mother, and grandmother from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory.  She is a McMaster Alumni in Indigenous Studies and Political Sciences (2002). As a First Nations woman, she has the lived experience and impact of society upon Indigenous peoples. Juanita’s family is comprised of Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) and has direct experience with Understanding of Truth and Reconciliation Child Welfare Calls to Action, An Act Respecting First Nations Inuit and Metis Children Youth and Families and the calls for justice from the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry. With her own history in child welfare and being a status Indigenous woman, TRC is a daily mirror image of her life and history. These are a few of the events that have provided her with lived experience of some of the issues challenging Indigenous people. Juanita has persevered with community members interacting or involved with police, child protection, criminal and family courts, and/or MMIWG/TRC. She has also worked with many Indigenous community partners throughout her lifetime. Indigenous history, languages, culture and community are vital in bringing First Nations voices forward. She is not speaking for all Indigenous peoples/communities but for her family. There are over 600 different First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities across this land, and we honour them all the best we can. From various voices we have heard from people’s experiences and traumas, and she supports bringing those voices and experiences forward and not to be forgotten.

Jean Jacques Somwe
Jean-Jacques Somwe is a specialist in public health and in epidemic prevention and control. He is currently president of the Congolese Community of Hamilton, one of the largest French-speaking communities in Hamilton. He co-chairs the Hamilton Black Health Community Leaders Forum, the organization whose primary goal is to address the social determinants of health for Black people of African descent. The City of Hamilton thanked him for his service as a member of the community advisory committee mandated with successful establishment of an independent board of directors for the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre. Jean-Jacques is currently pursuing his doctoral studies in public health. He holds a Master Degree in Public Health from the University of Western Cape, South Africa, A bachelor Degree in Dentistry from the University of Zambia and a Diploma in law from the University of Mbujimayi. During the locking down of COVID-19, 2020, He enrolled in one-year Diploma course for Canadian immigration and consultation specialization and He was graduated a year later with a Diploma in Immigration consultancy. He always wanted to do this course to be objective and professional to be able to help the thousands of francophone immigrants, asylum seekers and refugee families who most of the time are abused by lack of correct information.

Clifton van der Linden
Clifton van der Linden is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University, where he also serves as the director of the Master of Public Policy program and the Digital Society Lab. He is a computational social scientist who specializes in public opinion research. His work has been published in leading scholarly journals and has been referenced by major media outlets worldwide. Dr. van der Linden has spent more than a decade developing data-driven methods for enhancing democratic representation in countries such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. He regularly advises governments on policy issues related to digital technology and is a frequent media commentator on elections in Canada and abroad. He is also the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vox Pop Labs.

*HPS is posting member biographies as we receive permission to post names and information.

What is the purpose behind this work? Why are Hamilton Police collecting this data?

Hamilton Police, like all Services, are required to collect and report use of force incidents by perceived race under O.Reg 267/18 to support the goals of the Anti-Racism Act. Our data collection strategy focuses on understanding how police and community interactions affect racial disparities. By identifying the causes of these imbalances, we aim to address and reduce systemic issues.

Why is this work important?

We cannot fully understand or change what we do not measure. Our Race and Identity-Based Data (RIBD) Strategy will provide us with the ability to identify and address systemic racism in our policies and practices. It will also allow us to identify ways we can better support our members in their delivery of fair and equitable service.

What are some important facts we should know?

The Use of Force findings confirm that Black, Indigenous, and racialized people are over-represented in use-of-force incidents.

The RIBD strategy is meant to address issues of systemic racism and will not be used to further stigmatize communities. Instead, our analysis will help us adjust our policies and practices to eliminate systemic bias and identify areas where we can do better.

We are committed to continued engagement with our members and communities as we expand the types of data we collect and analyze, and co-develop actions in response.