A Quebec judge has just signed the death warrant for random roadside interceptions, rendering a major decision in a case where it was submitted to him that this police practice was the source of many cases of racial profiling.
These “road stops without real reason” are discriminatory and contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, said Judge Michel Yergeau of the Superior Court.
It therefore invalidates the rule authorizing this police practice, based on a judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada and sections of the Highway Safety Code and the Criminal Code.
This is a victory for Joseph-Christopher Luamba, a young black man who led this challenge to the law. He denounced having been arrested three times in barely a year, between 2019 and 2020, when he was a passenger or driving a vehicle, in Montreal and Repentigny.
The black community particularly targeted
In his 170-page decision, Judge Yergeau writes that racial profiling does exist and is “not just a figment of the imagination”.
According to him, the evidence submitted at trial demonstrates that this recognized power of the police has “become for some a vector, even a safe conduct for racial profiling against the black community”.
In short, he does not believe it appropriate that respect for the Charter be “left behind by an improbable moment of epiphany for police forces”.
It therefore invalidates the rule of law, an invalidity which will take effect in 6 months.
After a trial that lasted 21 days, the judge noted this evidence: as a general rule, no one is arrested for the sole fact of being behind the wheel of a car.
But it’s different for some people, he says, especially black men.
In addition to Mr. Luamba, other people testified that they had also been intercepted repeatedly while driving a vehicle.
What did they have in common, asks Judge Yergeau? “To be black. »
At trial, the Canadian government had defended this police practice, useful for preventing certain crimes. If the police have not used their power correctly, the solution is not to eliminate it, he pleaded.
It is obviously possible for the Quebec and Canadian governments to appeal this judgment.