Public communication knows to what extent Friday evening at 5 p.m. is a privileged moment to bury reports, debates and reflections. But more than Friday, Thursday 2:30 p.m., the day before a long weekend celebrating National Day and the start of vacation for many people and organizations, seems like a better time. This is the one that the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) has chosen to present the results of the second research report commissioned from researchers on arrests and profiling. That is to say how much profiling is of interest to the SPVM!
This “non-event” is just one more in the absence of debates, reflections and actions in the fight against profiling in Montreal. The word profiling is neither in the SPVM’s 2021 annual report nor in that of 2022, even if we learn that the SPVM participated in eight documentary series shootings (sic). The SPVM’s television activity seems more important to present in a report whose objective is a form of accountability for activities to Montrealers than the fulfillment of profiling commitments.
Certainly, during this press conference, on June 22, the director of the SPVM reiterated the recognition of systemic racism both within the police and within society. However, denial and resistance to change seem above all to characterize the SPVM both historically and currently. He also called for patience, presenting the measures he wishes to put in place. They are moving towards greater diversity and representativeness in the management of human resources within the organization. These objectives are laudable and necessary, but have little to do with the fight against profiling.
The feminization of police forces and judicial professionals over the past 30 years has in fact made little progress in the treatment of domestic and sexual violence against women. For what ? Because the fight against sexism and racism in their systemic dimensions is not a question of people, but of institutional policies, practices, the will to act differently, to go beyond the status quo. The director of the SPVM knows this; he himself recalled that policies designed outside his organization, such as requiring that police officers know how to swim, constitute an obstacle to his strategy of recruiting new people whose training, skills or the origin would be different. This is indeed indirect discrimination.
Arrest policy
In the same breath, the director considered that his organization’s questioning policy should be maintained even if it has directly discriminatory effects, as evidenced by the results of the study. He even added that following the only recommendation of the researchers with regard to the establishment of a moratorium on the policy of interpellation would be a “symbolic measure”. However, this moratorium is an imperative to stop profiling and violations of rights resulting from the practice of arrests. It should also be remembered that in February 2023, the Ligue des droits et libertés launched a campaign demanding a ban on arrests in Quebec, a demand that is supported by more than 90 civil society organizations.
What about this questioning policy built a few years ago as the solution to profiling? The study, even if it focuses on the arrests that the police officers have chosen to record – obviously we know nothing of those that are not recorded – concludes that nothing has changed between the first (2019) and the second report (2023), despite the implementation of this questioning policy. It is not the supervision of police arrests that will make it possible to get out of discriminatory practices, as the results of the study show, it is the prohibition of police arrests that will put an end to them.
The current policy says that police officers must have “observable facts” to justify an arrest. However, the study shows that the observable facts that justify an arrest hover more around indigenous people, young blacks and young Arabs. And what does the director of the SPVM say? Be patient and patient. In 2030, 2050, you will be able to take an evening walk in your neighborhood without being disproportionately challenged. In the meantime, the “observable facts” will be able to feed on stereotypes and prejudices, and the police officers are authorized by their management to act in a discriminatory manner. This positioning is unfortunately not surprising, but represents an additional element that testifies to the lack of will to include Montreal police practices in the rule of law, respect for charters and, in particular, the right to equality. treatment. Justice will come, according to the promises, in a few years or decades.
In the meantime, the authorization to discriminate is now open, formal and is done in any state of knowledge. The shouting was probably a little too loud. Thursday, 2:30 p.m., before the national holiday, was definitely the best time to say it. All of this shows that the profiling solution cannot come from the SPVM. The City of Montreal, like the Government of Quebec, must act urgently to put an end to discriminatory police practices, by tackling the question of police powers, rather than letting police forces do their thing while times change.