A Mississauga mother says she’s distraught after police used handcuffs to restrain her six-year-old daughter following an incident at her school.
“I can’t even begin to express the kind of shame I feel, the kind of anger I feel. Every time I think about it I get cold sweats,” said the mother, who the Star is not naming to protect the identity of the child.
“I’m just in utter shock.”
The mother said she received a call at work in late September from Peel Police, who informed her they needed to handcuff her daughter at her school.
Peel Police spokesperson Josh Colley said they were called by the elementary school’s administration, because the child was acting violently, by kicking, punching, biting and spitting.
“The behaviour was escalating even prior to police arriving and once they arrived the behaviour continued,” he said. “They tried a number of ways to deescalate the situation through communication, trying to remove the child from the immediate surroundings to try and calm the child down. It wasn’t working.”
Colley said police’s first priority was the well-being of the girl. He said they restrained her wrists and ankles to halt her from kicking or punching and to prevent her from inflicting self-harm.
“With regards to surroundings, we’ve got classrooms, books, desks, pencils, pens,” he said. “Because the behaviour was so violent, there are a number of ways the child could have harmed herself if she was to fall, bang into a wall.”
The girl’s mother said she took her home without any explanation as to why she was handcuffed and kept her out of school for weeks because she didn’t know what to do. She later moved the girl to a new school, where she has been for the past two months.
This was the third time police responded to a call from her daughter’s previous school, although earlier incidents were not of the severity of this one, Colley said. The girl had been suspended for violence four times in the past two years.
But her mother said that every time the school has called her about a violent ordeal involving her daughter, she’s arrived to find her “perfectly calm.”
“She’s very energetic, very happy. She’s excitable at times, but the picture they painted was of a little monster and that’s not my kid,” the mother said.
“If my daughter was misbehaving or whatever, she deserves to be disciplined, but, at the end of the day, she didn’t deserve to be shackled by . . . police, while at least five adults sat by and watched.”
Now that her daughter is attending a different school, the mother hasn’t received calls about her daughter’s behaviour.
Margaret Parsons, executive director of the African Canadian Legal Clinic, claimed the incident involving the handcuffs was a clear example of anti-black racism.
“We are beyond insulted and offended by the fact that they would treat a little, six-year-old African-Canadian infant in that way,” said Parsons.
Although the entire episode lasted half an hour, Colley declined to say how long the girl was handcuffed.
“I don’t care whether it was for a mini-scintilla of a second, it was wrong,” said Parsons.
“Six-year-olds are allowed to have bad days. Six-year-olds are allowed to have temper tantrums.
“Handcuffs are used for violent criminals. Handcuffs are used for offenders.
“I don’t know what a child could have done that would require them to use that level of restraint.”
Parsons said she intended to file a human rights complaint against the school and Peel Police.
Colley disputes that race was a factor.
“It’s an insult for anyone to think that race or racism had anything to do with this incident,” he said.
The girl’s mother said her daughter has avoided talking about that September day whenever she tries to bring it up.
She worries how being handcuffed will affect her daughter’s view of police and authority at such a young age.
“I don’t know what could have triggered my daughter to behave in the manner they’re saying that she behaved in,” she said.
“This is things I hear happen to adults, to criminals, not to a six-year-girl, let alone my six-year-old baby.”
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