A man believes he was the victim of racial profiling by police in Roussillon, Montérégie, and seeks redress.
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The events take place in 2017. Malik Smith, 20, stops his car in front of the residence of an agent of the Régie intermunicipale de police Roussillon to smoke a cigarette.
The man, who was then not in the exercise of his functions, then calls out to him and takes note of his license plate number.
Moments later, the policeman heard a deafening noise which he associated with a gunshot.
The police officer makes a report to the police and many agents arrive at Malik Smith’s home.
The young man is arrested and detained for nine hours, but no charges are brought against him.
Rather than a gunshot, the noise would be related to a breakage in a Hydro-Quebec transformer.
“I used to work for Domino’s, and even there and there were people I delivered to who asked me if I was the one the police had arrested. I feel bad, I don’t feel human. I’m not the same person I was before, ”explains Malik Smith.
Her mother, Suzette Spaulding, believes it is racism.
“We no longer stay in front of our house now, in the summer, we stand behind with the children,” she says.
The man and his family filed a complaint with the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse.
On November 3, a decision was rendered. Malik Smith has indeed been the victim of discrimination and profiling. The Commission proposed compensation in the amount of $ 61,000, and that the police officer receive training on discrimination and racial profiling.
The latter, however, refused to comply with the judgment of the Commission. Malik and his family therefore decided to take the case to court and filed a complaint with the courts.