On a crisp fall evening in early 2022, Svens Telemaque, a Montréal native and dedicated community worker, began his shift as an Uber driver. As he navigated city streets adorned with trees shedding leaves in hues of crimson and deep orange, Svens settled into his routine.
Approaching Boisbriand on the city’s North Shore, his rear-view mirror suddenly lit up with flashing red and blue lights from an approaching police car. Pulling over to let it pass, a wave of fear and anxiety struck him as he realized that the officers were stopping for him.
“They pulled me over, flashed a light in my face, demanded my license, and told me that ‘we’ve had a lot of stolen vehicles around here. Is this one yours?’ The cop then noticed my client in the back and without another word, jumped into his car and drove off,” he said.
Svenss experience is all too familiar for young Black men in Quebec. Racism within law enforcement has long been entrenched, with Montreal police Commander Patrice Vilcéus referring to it in his resignation letter as a “cancer eating away at the organization.” A stark contrast to Premier François Legault’s persistent denials.
In late October, the Quebec Court of Appeal reaffirmed the existence of race-based discrimination by upholding a 2022 Superior Court decision. That ruling struck down a law that violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including protections against arbitrary detention and the right to equality, allowing racial profiling by police through a legal loophole.
Under Section 636 of the Quebec Highway Safety Code, police officers could stop any vehicle without cause. This led to Joseph Christopher Luamba, a young Black Montréaler, being stopped nearly a dozen times, none of which resulted in a ticket or arrest.
With support from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), the Commission on Human and Youth Rights, and the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, Luamba launched a legal challenge against the Quebec Attorney General. The CCLA argued that random police stops violated the Charter’s protections against arbitrary detention and equality, creating an environment for racial profiling.
Following his decision in 2022, Justice Michel Yergeau ruled that the random stops facilitated racial profiling, going on to say that “racial profiling does exist. It manifests itself in particular with Black drivers of motor vehicles.”
Lex Gill, a lawyer representing the CCLA, described the judgment by the Court of Appeal as a huge win for equality rights in Canada.
“It’s a landmark decision, the court of appeals judgment charts a new course for equality rights in Canada, and in a sense this is the first time that a police power has been invalidated on the basis that it facilitates discrimination and that’s huge,” said Gill.
“Systemic racism is a profound issue in Quebec much like anyplace else in North America and this driving stop power is just one manifestation of this sort of discrimination,” she said. “These stops are so notorious that in academic literature in Canada it is called the driving while Black’ power, it’s literally seen as a law used for racial profiling”.
Gill also went on to describe what the unprecedented decision to uphold the Court’s original ruling says about the system of policing in Quebec:
“This decision shows us that policing institutions in Quebec are in drastic need of profound structural change, but on the other hand we can see that the courts can recognize that they have the power to do something about these injustices and that is a sign of a healthy, functional judicial system.”
Whilst a huge win for equality rights, the ruling is damning evidence of both systemic racism in Quebec as well as François Legault’s continued denial of its existence.
Legault’s apparent blindness to the problem has seen a steep rise in race-driven hatred in Quebec in recent years. However, the Premier continues to describe the issue of systemic racism as being related only “with the Black people in the United States”.
In September this led to the Red Coalition – an anti-racism lobby group, to call on the Quebec government to urgently create legislation to help stop the rise in racial injustices and hate crimes across the province and provide a legal framework to combat systemic discrimination.
“I would say to Premier Legault that we just had a six-week trial with uncontested evidence where the courts have concluded that police are targeting black and racialized people,” said Gill.
Despite Legault’s repeated refusal of systemic racism’s existence in Quebec, as per a 2021 study, 66 per cent of residents believe that the term is an accurate description of the form of discrimination and prejudice that takes in the province.
“If you need any more proof as to how prevalent racism is within the policing system then I suggest you go check out a provincial system and see who’s waiting to have their case heard and being denied bail, go down to the criminal court and tell me how many white people are hanging out there because there’s none except for the lawyers,” Gill said.
Frédéric Bérard is constitutional lawyer and Doctor of Law at Université de Montréal (UdM). He is also a political and legal commentator for the Journal Métro, Cogeco, and Radio-Canada.
“Either the Legault government is stupid enough to believe that systemic racism doesn’t exist in Quebec, or they know that it does but they are pretending that it doesn’t to please racists like Matthew Bock-Côté and a certain element in his electoral basis,” he said. “Even the police boss says that some of his cops are practising racist policies.”
Following the Court of Appeal’s decision, the Quebec government has six months to implement the required amendments to the Highway Safety Code. However, it still has the option to appeal the ruling and take the case to the Supreme Court.
“The Legault government is claiming that this ruling will make the police’s job more difficult but this is total bullshit because if you’re a cop and someone is violating the rule of law, you can arrest them without question,” said Bérard.
“Nobody is saying that Quebec is a racist place or that the Quebecois are racist people, however, it has now been proved that there is some systemic racism in certain areas so if we live under the rule of law then the Legault government has no choice but to respect the ruling of the court.”
While the Quebec Court of Appeal’s decision could signify a watershed moment for equality rights in Canada, many in racialized communities who have borne the brunt of systemic discrimination remain cautiously optimistic about its impact.
For victims of this abuse of power like Svens, the ruling offers hope that it could mark the beginning of the end of an era of hate and discrimination.
“This is not going to eliminate the problem because a lot of police have stereotypical, biased, racist views, and that’s not going to change because of this court ruling,” he said.
“There needs to be less funding for the police and more funding for community organizations that run programs to help youth. If the cops have time to stop Black people on their way to work, then they’re not stopping crime. To me racial profiling is a perfect indicator of resources being wasted by an overfunded organization,” Svens added.
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