The police will no longer be able to intercept motorists without cause, ordered the Superior Court in a major judgment denouncing racial profiling against the black community.
“As a society, we cannot wait for part of the population to continue to suffer in silence. […]. Racial profiling does exist. It is a reality that weighs heavily on black communities, ”commented Judge Michel Yergeau, sounding the death knell for “random” road checks.
Courtesy picture
Michel Yergeau. Judge
The magistrate had to decide a request brought by Joseph-Christopher Luamba, a student of Haitian origin in his early twenties. Three times in just over a year, he had been intercepted without cause. Each time, he was released without a statement of offense, after identifying himself.
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Prejudices
During the trial, several other people from the black community testified that they had been subjected to such treatment.
“As trivial as they may seem, these roadside interceptions prove intolerable to those concerned since they are based on appearances and more or less conscious prejudices associated with the color of their skin rather than on a road safety objective”, said the judge.
Recalling that “racial profiling is exercised in an insidious way, without the police officer being driven by racist values”, the magistrate therefore decided to put an end to these interceptions without reason, even if the Supreme Court had authorized them in 1990.
Modernized justice
“It’s a reform that hasn’t been seen for a long time,” commented Mr. Arij Riahi, who was part of a research team that produced expertise in the file.
It is that at the time, dissenting judges had warned that new social facts could change the situation.
And that’s exactly what happened in 2019, when the nation’s highest court called for a better understanding of the issue of racial profiling.
“Judge Yergeau’s decision is something of an update [du droit]“, estimated Me Riahi.
During the trial, the prosecution had asserted that the police were now trained “to disregard racial or social considerations” during random interceptions, but the argument did not hold.
The judge gave the authorities six months to put an end to this practice, which violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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