Did Officer Mohamed Noor get his job just because he’s Somali?

If he did, it would not be the first time. Christina Benson was a civilian employee of the Ottawa Police Service and her job was to conduct background checks on those applying to become police officers with the Ottawa police. Last summer she conducted checks on 19 new recruits. Benson found 18 of the 19 applicants passed the check while one failed. She forwarded her findings to Charles Bordeleau, Chief of the Ottawa police. The chief has the final say on who gets hired and who does not. The man Benson determined not to have passed her background check was a Somali. On July 24, 2016, Abdirahman Abdi, a 37-year-old Somali Canadian, became involved in a confrontation with Ottawa police after officers received information about a groping. During this confrontation, Abdi suffered a medical episode and died in hospital the next day. There was outrage as there always is when a black suspect dies at the hands of police.