New Montreal police street check policy praised by city, panned by advocacy groups
Policy set to go into effect this fall, but already rolling out
Montreal police unveiled a new street check policy Monday, and it's already being praised as progress by the city but criticized by anti-racism advocates for its lack of clear consequences for officers who violate it.
The policy applies to officers with the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) randomly stopping people on foot, commonly known as street checks.
Officers will need to clarify the reason for the interaction and inform the person they are free to leave at any time. Officers must then document each of these interactions.
Documented street check reports will then be reviewed by a committee to ensure there is no racial profiling.
Police Chief Fady Dagher says the updated policy will help build trust with the community. While it is just a start to addressing racial profiling within the SPVM, he says it is a step in the right direction.
A report published in 2019 found that Indigenous, Black, Asian and Arab people disproportionately experienced random police checks. A street check policy adopted in 2020 aimed to reduce officers' power to stop people at random.
A second report, published in 2023 by some of the same researchers, concluded there was no decrease in profiling after the SPVM created the 2020 policy.
It found that between 2014 and 2021, Indigenous people were six times more likely to be stopped by police than white people. Black people were 3.5 times more likely to be stopped and Arab people 2.6 times.
The SPVM says it has now taken the necessary steps to address concerns about racial profiling, and that is reflected in the updated policy.
It's expected to take effect this fall, but the SPVM says officers have already been instructed to start following it.
Public security head praises new policy
Alain Vaillancourt, who oversees public security on Montreal's executive committee, praised the move in a statement, calling it a positive step forward.
"It represents an important stage in the conversation our administration has initiated around profiling," the statement says.
"The new requirement for police officers to inform individuals that they are not obliged to comply and may leave at any time is a significant development."
He commends the work carried out by Dagher and his team, emphasizing that this is an ongoing effort and the policy may still be adjusted based on the effects observed by police, the public and partners.
However, the Ligue des Noirs du Québec, a civil liberties group, says the new policy lacks enforcement and does little to hold officers accountable without legislative backing.
"The new stop-and-question policy comes with no sanctions," says president Max Stanley Bazin in a statement. "The provincial government must step in — we're all waiting for a specific law to address the reality of systemic racism and systemic discrimination."
In other provinces, these issues are recognized and openly acknowledged, he says.
"The right to equality must be respected," he says.
Sanctions needed for officers who don't respect policy
Another rights advocacy group, the Ligue des droits et libertés, says in a news release that this measure is insufficient. It says officers should explicitly inform those stopped that they have no legal obligation to identify themselves or answer questions, and sanctions should be imposed if this obligation is not respected.
"Citizens affected by racial and social profiling know there is a vast difference between policy on paper and reality on the street," the news release says.
It says the fight for a total ban on these stops is not over.
Fo Niemi, executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), says this policy is an improvement compared to the one in 2020, as it clarifies what citizens' rights and freedoms are.
However, his organization will be studying the new policy further to determine how it differs from the 2020 version from a legal point of view.
"One of the most important criteria we have to look at is the notion of reasonable suspicion in order to justify the legality of the street check," Niemi says.
He says the policy's application needs to be examined from the citizens' perspective, particularly among young people and "whether those young people's rights and freedoms will still be respected."
Niemi says he doesn't believe the policy will improve trust between the community and police. There are other ways to enhance public security, trust and community co-operation, he says, and these policies should be created from the citizens' perspective.
The legality of random police stops in Quebec remains before the courts.
The province is appealing a Quebec Court of Appeal decision that found such stops unconstitutional without reasonable suspicion, with the case expected to go to the Supreme Court of Canada.
In the meantime, a judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit on behalf of motorists alleging they were illegally stopped.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Natalia Weichsel