Montreal must pay victims of 'systemic' racial profiling by police. How much? That's unclear
CBC
Racial profiling is a "systemic" issue within Montreal's police force and the City of Montreal should be held accountable for it, according to a ruling from a Quebec Superior Court judge released on Tuesday.
The ruling pertains to a $171-million class-action lawsuit filed by the Black Coalition of Quebec and Alexandre Lamontagne, a Black man who had a late-night altercation with Montreal police after leaving a bar in 2017.
The ruling is complex and doesn't clearly spell out how much money the city will have to dole out.
What's clear is that it amounts to a partial financial victory for the plaintiffs.
Regardless of the amount of money, their lawyer says the ruling is significant.
"The judge arrived at the conclusion that, yes, there is discrimination, there is a racial profiling in the police of Montreal," lawyer Mike Diomande said. "This is, for us, the main thing, the most important thing."
Here's a breakdown of the 99-page decision.
The total of $171 million sought by the lawsuit amounts to about $5,000 per person who said they were racially profiled by officers from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) while being stopped, arrested or detained between August 2017 and January 2019.
It includes both people who suffered physical injuries during the process and those who did not.
In her ruling, Justice Dominique Poulin only partially granted this request. First, she narrowed the time frame for eligible cases. She also outlined more specific categories of people and what level of compensation they were eligible for:
The judge also outlined the following compensation guidelines:
The judge did not set an amount of compensation for people who were unjustifiably arrested or detained by Montreal police, saying they would each have to prove the merit of their cases on an individual basis.
She encourages both parties to agree on how the money for the class action can be distributed, and how to go about the process of gathering individual claims.
In her ruling, Poulin wrote "the SPVM institution creates discriminatory effects on racialized people."
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.