Dozens of protesters marched through Regina’s downtown calling for change.
"There's a significant portion of our population that is experiencing, for sure, unnecessary police violence and abuse, and racial profiling. And I think there's a significant portion of our population that doesn't know that's happening," said Bob Hughs from the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism.
March 15 is the International Day Against Police Brutality and demonstrators took over the front steps of the Regina Police Service headquarters.
The same protest in Quebec was shut down before it started. It was declared illegal after organizers failed to inform authorities of their route.
The Quebec protest has a violent history. Nearly 300 fines were issued and five people were arrested last year. This year, the police presence greatly outnumbered that of demonstrators.
In Regina, the protesters marched peacefully from City Hall to the headquarters of the Regina Police Service where they described some negative experiences with police officers. Simon Moccasin-Ash shared his story of racial profiling.
"The guy said 'You match a description.' And I said 'Oh, now I know.' And all of a sudden that guy had me up against the wall," said Moccasin-Ash.
The protestors shared their complaints and presented a list of their concerns.
"Concerns like this need to be brought to us, otherwise we can't deal with them and we can't address those. So that's why it's important for us to be here, engage the community, identify what the concerns are, and hopefully come to some sort of resolution on these matters," said Deputy Chief Dean Rae.
Organizers described police violence as a “systemic” problem, but Rae says that is not what he is seeing.
'Policing in Canada, policing in Regina and policing in Canada, we have standards. And if there was a brutality, they would be dealt with accordingly," said Rae.
