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‘We have two reports stating (racial profiling) is happening, but there has been no progress,’ says Ensemble councillor Abdelhaq Sari.
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Ensemble Montréal wants to hear from researchers behind a recent racial profiling study, to hear their perspectives and publicly debate their recommendation in June that a moratorium be placed on random street checks by police.
The party says it intends to file a motion at the next council meeting, Aug. 21, calling on the city of Montreal to invite the researchers to speak at the following council meeting, in September.
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Commenting on the matter in June, police chief Fady Dagher refused to impose a moratorium despite the findings of the report — the second such study by a group of researchers from several Quebec universities.
The study looked at 2021 data and found that Indigenous Montrealers were six times more likely to be stopped by police than white people in the city. The data also showed that Black people were three-and-a-half times more likely to be stopped than white people, and Arabs were two-and-a-half times more likely to be stopped than white people.
A 2019 report by the same researchers looked at data between 2014 and 2017, and found similar inequalities, which researchers said pointed to the existence of “systemic biases” in the police force. The researchers — who are from Université du Québec à Montréal, McGill University, Université de Montréal and Université TELUQ — were mandated by Montreal police to conduct the two studies.
In reaction to the 2019 study, police instituted a new policy in 2020 banning street checks “based on discriminatory criteria,” among other measures aimed at reducing racial disparities. But the researchers for the two studies concluded in June that the policy did not have the desired effect.
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Abdelhaq Sari, official opposition spokesperson on public security and Ensemble Montréal councillor for Marie-Clarac, says mayor Valérie Plante has talked for the past five years about making a priority of the fight against racial profiling, but has done little about it.
“We have two reports stating clearly that this is happening,” he told the Montreal Gazette, “but there has been no reaction, no progress. I find it inappropriate.
“I can’t understand why the Plante administration doesn’t open the debate and hold a public consultation on the topic.”
Taxpayers fund these studies, Sari noted, and deserve to hear the researchers discuss their findings publicly at the next council meeting, which would also provide an opportunity for opposition councillors and other elected officials to express their opinions on the subject.
By not taking a position regarding random street checks by police, Sari said he believes Plante is “leaving the playing field open to the police chief to say (a moratorium) would be purely symbolic, and that it’s not worth it. But it’s up to the democracy to decide.”
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A spokesperson for Plante said racial and social profiling is “unacceptable” and the city is determined to use all means at its disposal to eradicate the phenomenon in Montreal.
“The SPVM is the first police force in Quebec to have adopted a policy on street checks,” said Catherine Cadotte, press attachée for the mayor’s office. “After a little over a year of application, this report shows us we must improve, and that’s what we will be working on in the coming months with the SPVM’s new chief Fady Dagher.”
Cadotte said the opposition’s motion will be debated during the upcoming council meeting.
Montreal police chief rejects street check moratorium despite racial profiling data
Opinion: Time to put a stop to racial profiling by Montreal police
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