Latest news with #PapaNdiankoGueye
Montreal Gazette
29-05-2025
- Montreal Gazette
Hanes: There are at least two major flaws with Montreal police's new street check policy
In decision after recent decision, the courts in Quebec have been crystal clear: The police practice of random interceptions runs the risk of racial profiling and must be halted. This month, Quebec Superior Court authorized a class-action lawsuit against police forces in the province, including Montreal's. It was filed by Papa Ndianko Gueye, who was pulled over in his white Audi in Longueuil in 2021, on behalf of 'any racialized person who has been the victim of racial profiling during a traffic stop without reason to suspect the commission of an offence.' That suit is in its preliminary stages, but last month, the Quebec Court of Appeal refused most of the provincial government's request to extend a six-month grace period for banning random spot checks after two earlier judgments found them discriminatory. For anyone keeping score, both the appeals court and Superior Court sided with Joseph-Christopher Luamba, a Black Montrealer, who sought a legal remedy after being stopped numerous times by various police forces without apparent cause. But after two strikes, Quebec is now hoping for a final kick at defending the tactic before the Supreme Court of Canada. Meanwhile, the City of Montreal is appealing a landmark ruling in which the court held it liable for thousands of cases of racial profiling by its police force. Mayor Valérie Plante's administration says it's ready to pay compensation to those targeted by the interventions. But it's challenging the ruling on technical grounds — including the finding that the city is responsible for the actions of its officers. As these judgments pile up, it's becoming increasingly difficult to justify interceptions that research irrefutably demonstrates zero in on Quebecers of diverse origins. It's also becoming increasingly expensive to pay reparations to victims of a practice that the courts have repeatedly tried to curtail. Yet the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal continues to cling to street checks as an essential law enforcement tool. This week, Montreal police Chief Fady Dagher unveiled a new and improved framework for random interceptions. Those pulled aside will be told why they are being stopped and that they are free to go, so they don't feel intimidated. Dagher said he believes the overwhelming majority of the public wants police to have discretion to stop and question people in suspicious circumstances, even if officers don't have the legal grounds to detain them. But he wants the new protocol to 'build trust, one intervention at a time.' Dagher, to his credit, has spent his career constructing bridges between cops and the community, pioneering a kinder, gentler approach to policing during his time in Longueuil without compromising the combatting of criminality. But trying to introduce a kinder, gentler approach to controversial street checks is doomed to fail. It's all well and good to want to clarify the obligations of officers and the rights of citizens. But there are at least two major flaws. Telling Montrealers they're free to go does little or nothing to prevent people from racialized backgrounds from being profiled in the first place. The SPVM's own data shows Black, Arab, Latino and Indigenous Montrealers are much more likely to be pulled over during these random checks. Those trends persisted or worsened even as the force tracked its interventions, trained its rank and file, and set more rigorous rules for the interceptions. Discretionary checks that begin innocuously enough also have an alarming tendency to escalate dramatically whether or not the person being intercepted dares question the officers or actually does try to leave — as they are supposedly, according to Dagher and the SPVM's framework, free to do. Lamine Sale Nkouendji was pepper-sprayed, dragged from his car and handcuffed in Outremont after two officers did a U-turn and followed him on the dubious suspicion he'd run a yellow light. Alexandre Lamontagne was thrown in jail overnight after two police officers outside the Old Montreal bar he'd just left stopped him and asked if he needed help because he apparently looked in their direction. These are more than isolated incidents. The court decision that held the city accountable for racial profiling by police estimated as many as 40,000 Montrealers could be entitled to compensation totalling $170 million. Now extrapolate to include all the police forces in the province. The writing should be on the wall for the SPVM and all other Quebec police agencies: No amount of tinkering can make this discredited and inherently problematic practice acceptable.
National Post
11-05-2025
- 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.
CBC
11-05-2025
- CBC
Class action authorized against 9 police forces over random stops of racialized people
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. Justice Catherine Piché 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. The list of defendants covers police patrolling much of the province, including its largest cities — Montreal and surrounding suburbs, Gatineau and Quebec City. "It follows that even if we remain cautious at this stage ... the present request appears to me to be anything but frivolous," Piché wrote. The lawsuit was filed in November 2022 by Papa Ndianko Gueye, following a stop in Longueuil, Que. just south of Montreal. 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." 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. 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. 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 to be declared unconstitutional. Yergeau sided with Joseph-Christopher Luamba, a Montrealer of Haitian descent, ruling racial profiling exists and is a reality weighing heavily on Black people. 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. "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. "The rule of law thus becomes a breach through which this sneaky form of racism rushes in." Gueye's lawyers include a combination of the same lawyers in the Luamba case. His filing alleges police forces in those cities systematically exercised this power in a discriminatory manner in violation of the rights and freedoms of those falling under the class. The Quebec government has appealed the Luamba ruling, arguing it deprived police of an important tool to stop crime, but the Court of Appeal upheld Yergeau's decision last year and gave the province six months to make the necessary changes to the Highway Safety Code. Quebec's Public Security Ministry announced last month that most random traffic stops by police had been suspended, after the Court of Appeal refused to grant an extension. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear a case about whether it's constitutional for police to make a random traffic stop without reasonable suspicion the driver has committed an offence.
