Montréal police's own report proves systemic racial profiling

The head of Quebec's human rights and youth commission says the Montreal police force needs to put an end its "systemic" practice of racial profiling.

Commission head Gaetan Cousineau said that for the better part of two years police have denied accusations they routinely stop young black men without cause, dismissing each complaint brought to their attention as an exception to standard procedure.

Now a damning internal report, prepared for Montreal police 17 months ago by criminologist Mathieu Charest and obtained by La Presse newspaper, appears to confirm what individuals and community groups have been saying — young black men in neighbourhoods such as Montreal North are far more likely to be pulled over than young white men. [...]

Montreal police were quick to dismiss Charest's report, saying it used flawed methodology. But Cousineau said there are too many cases to be brushed aside as aberrations.

"An alarm should have been raised by such numbers," he said.

Charest's study reinforces the findings of Christopher McAll, a Universite de Montreal professor and scientific director of the Montreal Research Centre on Social Inequalities and Discrimination.

His study of young blacks in the criminal justice system found black youths between age 12 and 18 were more than twice as likely to be arrested as whites and four times as likely to be questioned by police.

The commission proposes sweeping changes, including a prohibition on racial profiling in the Quebec Charter of Rights, the Police Act and the police code of ethics; sensitivity training for police, teachers and other employees; hiring of minorities and efforts to eliminate poverty and marginalization.

Accosted at a bus stop, in the park, while crossing the street or at school.

With a new report from the Quebec Human Rights Commission in hand, Montrealers are speaking out with tales of racial profiling in everyday places.

And yet Premier Jean Charest and opposition leader Pauline Marois are still silent on the issue. During question period Thursday in the National Assembly, debate centred instead on pork pricing, flooding and the electoral map.

Despite making the front pages of Montreal newspapers, there was radio silence on racial profiling in Quebec City.

"When you can't even get a statement of principle or intent, that's cause for concern," said Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations. "Silence is a very powerful message - unfortunately it's a message of indifference or denial."

Even the ministers for justice and public security have said nothing, Niemi continued, other than that they would study the report.

Joel Debellefeuille feels vindicated after winning a three-year legal battle against Longeuil police for racial profiling.

"I can actually now drive down the street, walk down the street and feel comfortable," said Debellefeuille.

His legal saga began in 2009 and required three court cases before reaching this stage all because police officers repeatedly stopped Debellefeuille while he was driving a new BMW. [...]

When he saw the police report a year later, he took his case directly to the Centre for Research on Race Relations.

That's because the police report said the reason for pulling over Debellefeuille was because the officer had run the plate, and decided that a black man could not have a Quebecois name.

The Black presence in Canada is primarily an urban phenomenon. The overwhelming majority of Black Canadians live in metropolitan areas such as Toronto and Montréal. Since geographically, according to the 2001 census, some 62% of Blacks live in Ontario and 23% in Quebec, we would expect this high concentration in Toronto and Montréal. Almost 47% of all Black Canadians live in Toronto and 21% in Montréal. This overrepresentation in Toronto and Montréal is a result of historical factors and of the obvious proximity to Black nations in Africa and the Caribbean. (Ottawa-Gatineau and Halifax also have sizeable proportions of Blacks, while the proportions decline in other urban centres.)

The spatial distribution of the Black population in Canada differs markedly from that in the United States, where Blacks are clearly the most segregated group. In Canada Blacks are among the least segregated groups, despite identifiable Black enclaves in Toronto and Montréal. Studies show that Canadian Blacks are much more likely to be spread among the neighborhoods of Toronto and Montréal than other visible minorities, even more than some non-visible minorities, such as Greeks and Portuguese.