Canadians 10 times more likely to be Tasered to Death by Police then Americans

http://www.chycho.com/?q=Canada_Taser

Last week I came across the following site which lists the total number of Taser deaths in North America from October to November of 2007.

With the use of Tasers, in the last few weeks, the police have killed the following nine people in the United States and Canada:

- Sammy Baker - Quitman, Georgia - Oct. 1, 2007
- Robert Dziekanski - Vancouver, Canada - Oct. 14, 2007
- Quilem Registre - Montreal, Canada - Oct. 17, 2007
- Jarrel Gray - Frederick, Maryland - Nov. 18, 2007
- Christian Allen - Jacksonville, Florida - Nov. 18, 2007
- Jesse Saenz - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Nov. 18, 2007
- Unidentifed Man - Jacksonville, Florida - Nov. 20. 2007
- Howard Hyde - Halifax, Nova Scotia - Nov. 22, 2007
- Robert Knipstrom - British Columbia, Canada - Nov. 24, 2007

As horrific as these statistics are, it gets worse for Canada if we do a direct comparison to the United States.

The population of Canada is 33 million while the population of the United States is 303 million. Therefore the United States has a population that is approximately 9 times larger then that of Canada.

Four out of the nine people listed above were killed in Canada, which means that if the police in the United States were to equal the same kill-to-population ratio as the Canadian police, then there should have been at least 36 Taser deaths in the United States. This is not the case. US law enforcement has only killed 5 people in the same time period. This means that Canadians are approximately ten times more likely to be tasered to death by police then our American neighbours.

As a Canadian I am appalled as to what my government has been supporting. It is disheartening, even when the latest report from the Commission for Complaints Against the RCMP recommends that “Canada’s national police force should limit their use of Taser stun guns”. This does not give me hope and neither should it to any else. We have allowed untrained undisciplined members of our law enforcement to use a deadly weapon with impunity.

What does this say about our country? Is this a sign of things to come for us under this administration?

In Canada, we need to implement the recommendations given by UN’s Committee against Torture which states that “the use of these weapons causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture”. We need to ban the use of Tasers in Canada.

http://www.chycho.com/?q=Canada_Taser