A long-awaited report on systemic racism was recently released by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). This reveals that the problem has lost none of its acuity since the last report (in 2019) by the team of researchers. In the new document, the researchers make recommendations that we consider relevant, but at the same time insufficient.
In 2019, Victor Armony and his co-authors provided an unprecedented quantitative analysis of the significant and growing racial disparities observed during police stops in Montreal. According to the results, black and indigenous people were four times more likely to be stopped by the police than white people, while Arab people were twice as likely.
The new report reveals that these numbers have remained the same or have seen an increase. This could explain the delays in the publication of the SPVM report, which, in all likelihood, was already ready since last November. Today, Aboriginal people are six times more likely to be stopped by the police than white people (a considerable increase), black people are 3.5 times more likely (a slight decrease) and people from the Arab community the are 2.5 times more (a slight increase).
The report also reveals that SPVM employees have no real awareness or understanding of racism in policing and that the measures taken since 2019 have had no effect on their practices.
Lack of action
These deplorable results stem from a lack of action by the authorities. In response to the 2019 investigation, the municipal administration limited itself to adopting a policy obliging the police to justify stops with “observable facts”, which, according to many of us, was already required by law. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This insufficient measure, or rather this absence of measure, did not take into account the request made by community organizations in 2017, namely the complete and definitive cessation of arrests. To this day, Montreal is one of the few Canadian cities that still refuses to put an end to this practice.
Arrests made by the SPVM must also be considered within the framework of general law enforcement policies in Montreal. Under the guise of fighting guns and “street gangs,” these practices lead to aggressive surveillance and repression in black and racialized neighborhoods. The SPVM, certain journalists and other actors continue to exaggerate the threat posed by so-called “street gangs” to public safety, regularly associating young racialized men with these groups, and using narratives racist character to explain alleged gang violence.
All of these factors directly contribute to a greater use of arbitrary arrests. The overrepresentation of black and indigenous people among civilians subjected to arbitrary arrests is the beginning of a long chain of racist practices that culminates in their overrepresentation in prisons.
Arrests
The new report recommends a moratorium on arrests. Although we agree with this opinion, we believe that it is necessary to put an end to arbitrary interception. Scientific research shows that arbitrary stops not only increase the risk of black and other racialized citizens being subjected to unnecessary police checks, but they also lead to higher rates of lethal and non-lethal police violence. murderous towards these people.
Thus, the abolition of arrests is necessary, but it is not enough. As long as the SPVM and the Montreal media feed racist stereotypes about crime and public safety, racism in police practices will not disappear. Furthermore, as long as social problems are dealt with by the police and not by the social services which are better equipped to solve them, these forms of racism will be systematically repeated within the police forces.
All the black, indigenous and Arab citizens of Montreal want is a relaxation of police controls in their lives, which they are entitled to ask for. We need a reinvestment of public funds in black, indigenous and racialized organizations in Montreal. They are indeed better able to improve the security and well-being of citizens, a task that is both urgent and demanding.