Québec solidaire (QS) implores François Legault not to contest the recent decision of the Superior Court which prohibits the police from proceeding to the interception of vehicles without valid reason.
Solidarity spokesperson for public security, Andrés Fontecilla, invited the Prime Minister to “take a historic step” by acting in the “most concrete way to eliminate racial profiling in Quebec”.
He asks him to put his “energy into the reform of the Highway Safety Code, into the need to render section 636 inoperative […] one of the main sources of racial profiling,” he said Wednesday morning at a press conference in Montreal.
Mr. Fontecilla was accompanied by a victim of racial profiling and witness in the trial of Judge Michel Yergeau, Lesly Blot, researcher and professor Victor Armony, co-founder of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), Fo Niemi , as well as the general manager of the Maison d’Haïti, Marjorie Villefranche.
In his decision handed down at the end of October, Justice Yergeau of the Superior Court completely reversed case law established a little over 30 years ago by the Supreme Court, the Ladouceur decision, which allowed interception without real reason for road safety reasons. He argued that over time, this arbitrary power granted to the police “has become for some of them a vector, even a safe conduct for racial profiling against the black community”.
“Here is a regulation that has been perverted. It can no longer hold, ”said Mme Villefranche of the Maison d’Haiti, Wednesday.
“We need to have black people driving free and proud, with freedom of movement, freedom of movement without being arrested in an abusive manner, without real reason,” claimed Mr. Niemi of CRARR.
“Hesitation”
The day after the judgment, Mr. Legault defended the work of the police in Montreal. He said he would take the time to analyze the decision before deciding whether or not to appeal Judge Yergeau’s findings.
By these remarks, Mr. Fontecilla sees a “hesitation” on the part of the chief caquiste to fight against racial profiling.
According to the united MP, if Mr. Legault challenges the decision, he will go against the recommendations of his own government aimed at banning random police arrests. The QS elected official is referring here to the report of the Anti-Racism Action Group filed in December 2020.
One of the members of this group is the new Minister responsible for the fight against racism, Christopher Skeete, himself a black person. Mr. Fontecilla hopes the minister will use his influence to tip the government in favor of judgment.
Last week, the Association of Quebec Police Directors (ADPQ) expressed concern about the impacts of the court’s decision on road safety.
She mentions that the purpose of section 636 “is to protect road users by ensuring that drivers and vehicles comply with the law and established standards”.
The ADPQ declared that it was “very aware of the issues of racial profiling and several initiatives have been put in place to address this problem”.
Efforts are currently being made at the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) to combat racial profiling in its police practice. But these do not attack the real source of the problem which is based on the application of section 636 of the Highway Safety Code, deplores Mr. Fontecilla.
Researcher and professor Victor Armony is currently analyzing the impact of SPVM initiatives and its new policy on arrests. He said that “the wish is to see trends change towards a reduction in the risk of racial profiling”.
Armony and two other researchers found in a 2019 study that Indigenous and black people are between four and five times more likely to be stopped, compared to white people.
This article was produced with the financial support of the Meta Fellowships and The Canadian Press for News.