(Montreal) A black man who was racially profiled by Montreal police during a stop in 2017 says the 30-day suspensions recently imposed by the police ethics committee on two officers are significant, but far from sufficient.
Posted at 8:26 p.m.
Errol Burke, 59, said the penalties should have been tougher. Police officers Pierre Auger and Jean-Philippe Théorêt were found guilty by the police ethics committee last October.
At a virtual press conference hosted by the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations on Thursday, Burke argued that such suspensions weren’t enough to deter a kind of behavior he calls ” arrogant” on the part of the police against people “who have not committed any crime”.
The civil rights group said the 30-day suspensions were the heaviest penalties imposed by the committee for racial profiling. But the decision is likely to be appealed, executive director Fo Niemi said.
“It’s the first time in our work that we’ve seen such a strong and firm decision against racial profiling,” he told reporters.
Niemi cited harsh language in the ethics committee’s decision, saying racial profiling is a daily reality for visible minorities and contributes to “fear and humiliation, trauma, distrust of the police” and fears of ill-treatment by the authorities.
Mr. Burke was riding his bicycle to buy milk from a convenience store when police officers converged on him with their weapons drawn on February 18, 2017, in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de- Grace.
He was slammed against the store door before being violently thrown to the ground, handcuffed and searched.
The police realized that there was a mistake about the person after taking part in Mr. Burke, who was 54 years old at the time. In fact, they were looking for an 18-year-old black suspect who, other than skin color, did not match Mr. Burke’s description.
He was released without any apology from the police.
The Service de police de la ville de Montreal (SPVM) said Thursday that it was aware of the police ethics decision, but would not comment on it further. The Montreal Police Brotherhood, which represents the city’s unionized police officers, said it does not comment on ethics decisions.
Moreover, the Quebec Human Rights Commission has already ruled in favor of Mr. Burke and awarded him $35,000 in damages from the City as well as $5,000 in punitive damages from each officer. The city refused to pay and the case will go to the Human Rights Tribunal later this year.
Mr. Niemi said the ethics decision was important to Mr. Burke and others who have experienced profiling.
“Resilience, determination and patience can bring very, very significant results, even if it’s not the kind of harsh penalties that Mr. Burke expects,” Mr. Niemi said.
Mr Burke expressed frustration at having had to live for years with the aftermath of the brutal arrest.
He pointed out that his original ethics complaint was dismissed and accepted only after video evidence was presented.
Mr. Burke believes that it should not be so difficult to obtain justice.