The External Anti-Racism Action Committee’s responsibilities will be to identify and provide recommendations on the following: 

• Assist CPS in identifying systemic racism, barriers, and impacts currently experienced by the community in interactions with the police or in accessing police services and programs. 
• Systemic barriers for accessing the Professional Standards Section citizen complaints process.
• Opportunities to work with community partners and organizations on actions to address systemic racism on a community-wide level.
• Training and engagement that will help educate CPS on how it can best serve and interact with the community in a manner that is safe, practical, and anti-racist.  

The Anti-Racism action committee's meetings are not public, but monthly summaries of what was discussed will continue to be shared here.

The Anti-Racism Action Committee is made up of a diverse group of Calgarians with a variety of lived, academic and professional experiences. We received over 200 applications to join the committee and selected those who best met the criteria of: 

• Lived experience of racism and/or professional, academic or cultural expertise in anti-racism related work
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain strong collaborative relationships
• Strong understanding of a range of human and civil rights issues and the historical origins of systemic racism
• An openness to supporting people and communities towards meaningful, positive change
• Preferably personal and/or professional community connections that can inform the committee’s work

The CPS received 215 applications and made the decision to increase the number of committee member from 11 to 15. The selection process was as follows:

1. Citizens submitted a cover letter and resume to bepartofthesolution@calgarypolice.ca.
2. CPS members collated all the submissions.
3. CPS members submitted the full list of applicants to Human Resources (HR) for initial pre-screening based on the criteria identified in the posted recruitment letter.
4. HR professionals provided recommendations:
   1. Candidates that met qualifications
   2. Candidates that are potential and
   3. Candidates that did not meet qualifications.
5. CPS members conducted a line-by-line review to ensure that all citizens who submitted applications were included in the above HR pre-screening process.
6. Candidates that met the qualifications were short listed for the CPS Selection Committee comprising of Deputy Chief Katie McLellan, Superintendent Asif Rashid, A/Inspector Avril Martin and Katy Doucette, Manager.
7. All applicants were given written notification of their application results: successful, alternates list, and regrets.
8. Successful applicants also received verbal notification.

Many agencies have asked for the selection criteria. An excel file of the criteria is available.

You can read about each of the committee members on The City of Calgary Newsroom.

Two Calgary Police Service employees (Acting Inspector Avril Martin and Civilian Manager Katy Doucette) will facilitate the overall work of the committee and will lead the development of the Anti-Racism Strategy to guide the Service forward on issues of systemic racism.

An internal Anti-Racism Action Committee has also been established, representing all officer ranks and a variety of civilian expertise from across the Service. The internal committee will also contribute to the development of the Anti-Racism Strategy.

The committee would like to hear from anyone who has ideas for how the Calgary Police Service can do better on the issue of systemic racism.