More than a third of victims are black in deadly encounters with Toronto police

New data shows 18 black men and one black boy were among the 52 people killed in encounters with Toronto police officers between 2000-2017.That outnumbers other racial groups.

No government agency or police force maintains national statistics on police-involved fatalities.

But CBC tracked more than 460 deaths nationwide through inquests, Special Investigations Unit reports, media accounts and other public records.

In Toronto, the 19 black people killed in encounters with Toronto police account for 36.5 per cent of the fatalities, despite the fact that black people make up just 8.3 per cent of the city's population during this time, according to the data.

Simone Wellington, whose 15-year-old son Duane Christian was killed by a Toronto police officer in 2006, says the prominence of black victims in this city doesn't surprise her. 

"No one in the black community is surprised by that.There are things that we have to deal with that other races, ethnicities and cultures don't."

Wellington says she's convinced her son's race played a role in his death.

The Toronto Police Service was provided with the data compiled by CBC News and a list of questions. It did not respond.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission is looking into the actions of the Toronto Police Services between 2010 and 2017 to determine if the force engaged in racial profiling or racial discrimination against the black community during that time.

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