Quebec City's Black community wants accountability from police

Members of Quebec City's Black community say they were hurt by the images of recent violent police interventions with two Black youth — but not necessarily surprised.

Quebec City historian Ali Ndiaye, who's also a rapper who goes by the stage name Webster, says the way police in the provincial capital treat minorities has been a longstanding problem.

"This is something we knew about, something we've seen all our lives," he said. "The only difference with the last two decades is that it was filmed, the whole public was able to see it."

Over the weekend, cell phone footage of altercations between police officers and two young Black people outside the Dagobert night club was widely shared online.

Five police officers were suspended with pay and Quebec's public security minister has called for an investigation by the province's police ethics commissioner.

Police officers can be seen striking and kicking snow in the face of 18-year-old Pacifique Niyokwizera while he's restrained and in another intervention around the same time, a young Black woman can be heard screaming as police drag her through the snow, at one point pulling her by her hair.

The Service de Police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ) says it's also looking into a separate incident that took place a few hours earlier inside a restaurant.

A white man was tackled to the ground by police and left bloodied by glass and injured by police blows to his ribs. The SPVQ says three members of its squad that intervenes in bars and night clubs were involved in both situations.

Sadly familiar  

Ndiaye say he's regularly witnessed and experienced the poor treatment of Black people by Quebec City police over the years.

He says he has friends who have been detained, beaten and left to fend for themselves in remote parts of the city and he himself has often been pulled over, stopped on the street and asked to show ID, while simply making his way to work.

He says police have acknowledged they need to do better — but they can't do it alone. 

"My trust was broken long ago," he said. "I had to work hard to be able to differentiate and understand it's not every police man or woman that are acting this way, but ... by their non-action they still condone what's going on."

"It's one thing to say it but they have to act upon it. They need to give better training ... and they need to recognize racial profiling, it's been going on for decades now."

Ndiaye says only meaningful action can rebuild the trust between local police and the Black community — adding that it isn't only Black people who have had negative experiences with the local police.

"People of colour, Indigenous people who've been beaten, who've been profiled. We need to see some action," he said.

The police need to do more than just hire people of colour and Indigenous people, he said, "they need to be in [positions of] power."

Ndiaye says implementing body cameras would be another step toward transparency and accountability for police officers, providing another element of proof when their actions are called into question.

"[Right now] the burden of filming is on the youth," he said. "They had to be courageous to whip out their phones and film ... the burden of proof should be on the officers."

Mayor defers to investigations, says diversity is a priority

Quebec City mayor Bruno Marchand addressed media on Wednesday, the day after the police force announced five officers were suspended with pay.

Marchand says he's staying out of the SPVQ's investigations into the actions of its officers as well as two investigations by Quebec's police ethics commissioner that were ordered by Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault.

He says it's not the mayor's place to tell police how to do their job, and once the investigations are concluded he'll decide if he needs to take further action, adding that police are also working to address a lack of diversity in their ranks.

"Our police service, they're working hard on that and I think they're going to have some results very soon," he said. "I've seen the plan. The plan is good but my main concern is about our city, we need in our staff — we need in our city — more place for everyone."

The newly elected mayor says he wants to focus on vivre ensemble — the French expression for an environment of togetherness and inclusivity.

"We're going to put more action into that for those families and others," he said. "We're going to build a place for everyone. Nobody will be left behind, not matter where they're coming from."

Bridging the gap

Samuel Audet-Sow is a former professional basketball player who has tried to bridge the gap between Black youth and police in Quebec City through sport.

Audet-Sow played basketball for the Université Laval Rouge et Or and a few years ago he organized a basketball tournament to build trust between young Black people and police officers, some of whom he knows personally.

"I love the city, that's where I want my kids to grow up," he said. "[But] I'm worried about it now ... It happens way too often in Quebec City."

Audet-Sow says in the past police in Quebec City would argue that violent confrontations with Black people were a problem elsewhere and not at home.

"Now it's pretty clear that it could happen in our city too," he said.

Asked how he feels about five officers being suspended, Audet-Sow said he's encouraged but also curious to learn more.

"I think it's a good first step ... it's heading in the right direction," he said.

"I really want to know what happened, why this kid was arrested that way. It doesn't look good," he said, adding that he's doing his best to stay objective until the results of the investigations into the officers' conduct are made public.

Audet-Sow urged the SPVQ to be fair with the Black community and says if it's proven that the police officers were out of line it's important that they face further discipline and police sanctions.

"At the end of the day, those are the only things that will really show to everybody that they care," he said.

"We can work through this and find solutions. But it will be a lot harder now."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.