(Quebec) The Legault government is appealing the judgment ordering the end of random interceptions of motorists, an arbitrary power that serves for some police officers as “safe conduct for racial profiling against the black community”, according to the Superior Court .
The Ministers of Public Security, François Bonnardel, and the Fight against Racism, Christopher Skeete, will confirm this at a press conference Friday in Montreal. They will also announce “measures for the fight against racial profiling in the police force”. The government is thus seeking to mitigate the impact of its decision to challenge the Court’s judgment.
In his decision handed down on October 25, Judge Michel Yergeau argues that the rule of law and legislative provisions authorizing traffic stops without real reason violate the rights of citizens under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “Racial profiling does exist. It is not a laboratory-constructed abstraction. It is not a view of the mind. It manifests itself in particular among black drivers of motor vehicles. Charter rights can no longer be left in the wake of an unlikely moment of policing epiphany,” he added.
The day after the Court’s decision, Prime Minister François Legault affirmed that random arrests can be explained in certain contexts, in particular in the fight against armed violence. “We have to let the police do their job,” he said.
There is no law as such that allows a police officer to intercept a person without reason. This power essentially stems from two Supreme Court decisions handed down some 30 years ago. The highest court in the country then concluded in the Ladouceur case – split 5 to 4 – that random stops could be justified under the Charter given the number of road accidents caused by impaired faculties.
However, things have changed in 30 years. Racial profiling is a “significant new social fact” that was unknown to the Supreme Court when it expanded police powers, although the minority had anticipated it, explains Justice Yergeau. Thus, the Ladouceur judgment leads to a “dead end” in matters of racial profiling.
In December 2021, Geneviève Guilbault, Minister of Public Security at the time, tabled a bill on the police aimed, among other things, at Quebec establishing “guidelines [pouvant] in particular on the absence of discrimination in police activities”. However, this legislative text has never been studied by the National Assembly. It therefore died on the order paper when the House was dissolved and the general election called.
This provision of Mr.me Guilbault was intended to be a response to a recommendation from the Anti-Racism Action Group that Prime Minister François Legault created in June 2020 in the wake of the death of American George Floyd. In its report tabled in December 2020, the action group, made up of three ministers and four Caquiste deputies, asked to “put an end to cases of police discrimination”. One of the action group members was Christopher Skeete.
“Despite all the efforts undertaken, the issues of racial profiling during police arrests and police violence linked to racism still seem to be present and continue to arouse many reactions in the circles that are victims of it”, can we read in the report. He added that it is necessary “to make the prohibition of random police arrests mandatory”.
“The Ministry of Public Security has adopted a police practice prohibiting random police stops,” the document explains. This practice prohibits all arrests based on race, color, ethnic or national origin, religion and social condition. In other words, for an arrest to take place, there must be a clear reason on the part of the police. This practice does not have the force of law. The Action Group recommends that it be made mandatory, by integrating it into the police code of ethics. It will thus be possible to sanction in ethics or discipline a police officer who does not respect it. This measure will significantly reduce racial profiling, if not eliminate it. »
The co-president of the group, Minister Lionel Carmant, went there with a personal testimony to justify the recommendation: “When I was younger, I experienced racism. I was stopped a few times randomly because I was driving my parents’ car. I always said to myself afterwards that I didn’t want my children and my grandchildren to have to go through this in their lives and that if I could move things in the right direction, I was going to do it. Today, I was given the opportunity and I seized it. »
With Louis-Samuel Perron