(Quebec) One year after its tabling, half of the report’s recommendations Racism in Quebec: zero tolerance is under construction, assures the Legault government’s Action Group against Racism. Random police arrests based on a discriminatory motive are in particular in the process of being prohibited with the tabling of Bill 18 on Wednesday, which will respond to the very first recommendation of the report.
“Just yesterday, our colleague Geneviève Guilbault tabled Bill 18 which is a sort of omnibus on police practice, but which includes very important articles in terms of the supervision of the phenomenon of police arrests” , exposed Thursday the minister responsible for the fight against racism, Benoit Charette.
“We met several groups and this is undoubtedly the issue that most – no pun intended – citizens, so it is a major step forward in this file”, added Mr. Charette, who presented on Thursday the results of the Action Group against Racism, as the anniversary of the tabling of the report approaches Racism in Quebec: zero tolerance, in December 2020.
According to the group, actions have been taken to follow up on 13 recommendations out of 25. Still in the chapter of recommendations concerning police work, Quebec recalled the recent announcement of an investment of 25 million for police reform, which will allow the implementation of pilot projects such as the creation of mixed patrol teams.
Bill 18 tabled Wednesday by the Minister of Public Security will also allow the government to require continuing training on racial discrimination and profiling. “This bill will play a fundamental role because it is quite certain that changing mentalities is the ultimate objective, but it must be marked out, that it be supervised”, added Mr. Charrette. .
Increase diversity in the public service
The government is still lagging behind in terms of the representativeness of members of visible minorities in the Quebec public service with a rate of 14% as of March 31, 2021. This is a small increase compared to 2018 when this proportion reached 11%. . Quebec has in its sights an 18% presence rate of visible and ethnic minorities by March 2023.
“It is a progression which is nevertheless important since the beginning of our mandate”, defended Mr. Charette. “What we have seen is that the current rules make it more difficult to recruit by department, by department in order to target needs and ensure diversity. […] We have had several meetings with Senior Jobs and the Treasury Board and there is really a policy that is being developed to emphasize recruitment difficulties, ”he said.
The group cites Bill 60, which changes the public service and proposes a new process for staffing public service jobs as of winter 2022.
Quebec also recalled the deployment of its advertising campaign against racism, which has been rather criticized since its launch. “It is not because we put an action in place that we immediately check it,” said Minister Charette, explaining that it is a three-year campaign. “I would have been rather worried if she had not reacted.”
The Minister responsible for Indigenous Affairs, Ian Lafrenière, who is a member of the action group, presented the progress of his plan I have hope, which aims to implement the recommendations of the Viens Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in the country, in particular.
The Action Group Against Racism was created by the Legault government in June 2020 in the wake of the death of the American, George Floyd. The action group tabled a first report a year ago, in December 2020, which included 25 measures on various fronts such as access to the labor market, public security, the right to housing and education. .
The creation of a post of minister responsible for the fight against racism was moreover one of the recommendations of the action group, which was carried out by the appointment of Minister Benoit Charette, last February.