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National Post

Quebec judge approves class action over systemic racial profiling in traffic stops

A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class action suit brought on behalf of racialized people who were stopped while behind the wheel by police without reason to suspect an offence. Article content Article content Justice Catherine Piche authorized the lawsuit in a ruling rendered last month, which targets police in eight defendant cities and the Quebec attorney general, which represents the provincial police. Article content Article content The list of defendants covers police patrolling much of the province, including its largest cities — Montreal and surrounding suburbs, Gatineau and Quebec City. Article content Article content 'It follows that even if we remain cautious at this stage … the present request appears to me to be anything but frivolous,' Piche wrote. Article content The lawsuit was filed in November 2022 by Papa Ndianko Gueye, following a stop in Longueuil, Que. just south of Montreal. Article content He represents 'any racialized person who has been the victim of racial profiling during a traffic stop without reason to suspect the commission of an offence by the police services of one of the defendant cities or by the Quebec provincial police since May 23, 2019.' Article content Gueye alleges he was stopped while driving his white Audi on March 26, 2021, but didn't commit a traffic violation. The officer told him he'd stopped him for driving over the speed limit, and Gueye alleged the officer became aggressive and summoned backup quickly. Article content Article content A few days after the stop, he went to the police station to ask about the interception, but was told police did not have any record of it. He received three tickets in the mail, including one for speeding. He alleges the interception was based on 'no genuine motive' and characterized it as racial profiling. Article content Article content The class action was filed in November 2022, two weeks after a landmark decision by Quebec Superior Court Justice Michel Yergeau in a case seeking to have a common law rule allowing Canadian police to stop drivers for no reason declared unconstitutional. Article content Article content Yergeau's ruling effectively nullified Section 636 of the province's Highway Safety Code, which gives officers discretionary power to stop any vehicle without reason. Article content 'The preponderant evidence shows that over time, the arbitrary power granted to the police to carry out roadside stops without cause has become for some of them a vector, even a safe conduit for racial profiling against the Black community,' Yergeau wrote in October 2022.