(Quebec) It is too early according to François Legault to say if Quebec will appeal the judgment of the Superior Court which orders the end of interceptions without real reason for motorists. According to the Prime Minister, random arrests can be explained in certain contexts, particularly in the fight against armed violence. “We have to let the police do their job,” he said.
Posted at 3:09 p.m.
In a ruling released Tuesday, Justice Michel Yergeau said laws that allow traffic stops without real cause violate rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. According to the judge, this arbitrary power serves for certain police officers as a “safe conduct for racial profiling against the black community”.
“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 [canadienne des droits et libertés] cannot be left any longer in tow of an improbable moment of epiphany of the police forces”, concluded the judge, who allows a delay of six months in the application of his decision.
In a scrum before the Council of Ministers in Quebec, François Legault recalled that his government has implemented measures against racial profiling in its plan to fight against racism. “It is a judgment which is long and which must be analysed”, he added.
“On the other hand, when we talk about random arrests, you have to understand that you have to let the police do their job. When you see the violence there is in Montreal in certain neighborhoods, you also have to…”, he said without finishing his sentence.
“I have total confidence in the police and it is important to support them,” he finally concluded.
Will Quebec review its game plan?
These brief statements by the Prime Minister, however, contrast with a recommendation from the Anti-Racism Action Group, which François Legault created in June 2020 in the wake of the death of American George Floyd. In its report, the action group – made up of three ministers and four CAQ MPs – asked to “put an end to cases of police discrimination”.
“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”, could we read in the report. He added that it is necessary “to make the prohibition of random police arrests mandatory”.
“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 am being given the opportunity and I am seizing it,” Minister Lionel Carmant, who co-chaired the group, also declared.
In response to the report, a draft law on the police, tabled in December 2021 by the former Minister of Public Security Geneviève Guilbault, also aimed to establish “guidelines [pouvant] in particular on the absence of discrimination in police activities”. The bill was not studied before the election and therefore died on the order paper when the House was dissolved.
The new Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, briefly commented on the judgment on Wednesday, saying that he first wanted to “salute the work of the police and reiterate the confidence I have in them”.
“We are sensitive to the situation of racial profiling, as our previous actions demonstrate. We will take the time to carefully analyze the judgment that was rendered yesterday. We will give me no further comments at this time,” he said.
A judgment that could “cost lives”
Earlier Wednesday, the Association of Police Directors of Quebec (ADPQ) claimed that the Superior Court ruling to limit racial profiling could lead to an increase in road deaths.
“We believe that it will have an impact on public safety, on road safety,” said Pierre Brochet, president of the organization and Laval police chief. In his opinion, withdrawing the power of interception, “it is a measure that is extreme” which, according to him, would call into question the legality of anti-drinking roadblocks.
The judgment of Judge Yergeau is the conclusion of a procedure brought by the student of Congolese origin, Joseph-Christopher Luamb, who addressed the Superior Court in order to have the random arrests of motorists by the police declared unconstitutional. Mr. Luamb was arrested without cause three times between 2019 and 2020 while driving. Other black people who testified at the trial said they were similarly intercepted.
“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.
With Philippe Teisceira-Lessard, Tommy Chouinard and Louis-Samuel Perron, The Press