The Gatineau police have been found guilty of having committed racial profiling twice in just a few months against one of its citizens by making abusive arrests.
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“We must not justify our existence and our life in Gatineau. We are citizens with full rights”, summed up in an interview with Log Luck Kahila Nkamba.
“For other young black men in the region, they will also be able to know that they have rights, that they do not have to have their lives roughed up,” he adds.
On May 4, the Human Rights Tribunal recognized that Gatineau police officers had harmed him because of the color of his skin, ordering them to pay him $22,500 in damages.
The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse then sued the City of Gatineau and the officers involved, on behalf of Mr. Nkamba.
Judge Sophie Lapierre also recommended that the City of Gatineau “implement a policy aimed specifically at countering racial profiling” and develop “a formal process for evaluating the skills of police officers in the fight against racial profiling. .”
Significant incidents
Even today, Luck Kahila Nkamba is haunted by the shame felt during two events that occurred in November 2017 and February 2018.
The first incident occurred when the complainant was a passenger in a taxi returning from a nightclub. The police intercepted the vehicle as it had stopped in the middle of the street.
During the intervention, the agents ask Mr. Nkamba to identify himself, which he refuses, since he affirms that he has not committed any offence.
In the moments that followed, the Gatineau resident got out of the vehicle and retrieved his suitcases, under the gaze of police officers Simon Drolet and Gabriel Gagné, who lit the trunk with a flashlight.
“Mr. Nkamba puts his suitcases on the sidewalk and refuses to leave the scene before the police do. A fruitless exchange ensues on this subject, which leads Mr. Nkamba to take photographs of the patrol cars with his cell phone. In doing so, Mr. Nkamba leaves the sidewalk and walks on the roadway,” reads the magistrate’s judgment.
However, while crossing the road, the complainant committed an offense and police officer Gagné again ordered him to identify himself. He receives another refusal.
Photo archives, QMI Agency
Gatineau police vehicles, several years ago.
“Police officers Gagné and Drolet proceed to the arrest, the handcuffing and then a frisk search of Mr. Nkamba. They get their hands on his identity papers, ”we learn in the judgment rendered at the Gatineau courthouse.
Two reports were given to the complainant, including one for obstructing the work of the police.
“[L]he evidence does not suggest that police officers Gagné and Drolet are racist or act consciously based on the color of Mr. Nkamba’s skin. But their conduct and their decisions can obey unconscious prejudices and the law then makes no difference: there is still racial profiling, ”wrote Judge Lapierre.
Different treatment
In practically identical circumstances, the Gatineau resident was also handcuffed by police officers Matthieu Lambert and Christopher Perron on the pretext that he had not fastened his seat belt on board a taxi.
“The Tribunal believes that if Mr. Nkamba had been a white person, with the same calm and polite demeanor, the police would not have handcuffed him,” concludes Judge Lapierre.
Contacted by The newspaperGatineau police said they were unable to comment on Sunday.
She said she had to “read the judgment and consult the City’s Legal Affairs Department, in particular.”