SPVM publicly recognizes its bias against minorities
Black, Indigenous and Arab people most likely to be stopped: report
Despite stopping short of admitting racial profiling by its officers, the Montreal police force says it’s humbled by a new report showing black, Indigenous and Arab people are far more likely to be stopped by police in the city.
Described as shocking by Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante and hailed as a long-overdue first step by community activists, the report marks one of the rare times the SPVM has publicly recognized its officers may harbour biases toward the city’s minority communities.
“I accept all of the report’s findings with humility and commit to taking concrete actions to address the recommendations that come from it,” Montreal police chief Sylvain Caron said following its release on Monday, acknowledging the presence of “systemic or organizational bias” within the force.
“These findings are greatly concerning,” Caron added. “We will do everything possible to eliminate the disparities.”
The researchers behind the report, mandated by the City of Montreal last year, studied police interceptions (“street checks” or “information stops” that didn’t result in charges or tickets) the SPVM carried out between 2014 and 2017.
During the four-year period, the findings show, black and Indigenous people in Montreal were four times more likely to be subject to street checks by police than white people were. Arab people were two times more likely.
Indigenous Peoples also appear to be increasingly targeted: while they were two times more likely to be stopped in 2014, the report shows, they became six times more likely in 2017. The likelihood of an Indigenous woman being checked by officers was also found to be 11 times higher than a white woman.
The report comes two months after a Superior Court judge authorized a racial profiling class-action suit against the city, ruling there was enough evidence to “support the thesis of systemic racial profiling by (Montreal) police officers.”
Repeatedly pressed by reporters on Monday, Caron refused to acknowledge whether the report’s findings confirm racial or social profiling by Montreal police officers.
Asked how he explains the disproportionate numbers if not due to profiling, Caron said street checks are either the result of someone calling the police or an officer making a decision to stop someone. Officers being human, he added, their biases can leak into their work.
“We don’t have any racist police officers,” the chief said. “We have police officers who are citizens and who, inevitably, have biases like all citizens can have. That’s the part we need to try to understand, and it’s a complex issue.
“As police chief, what I want is to have a safe city,” he added. “So we need to find the right balance between respecting people’s rights and police officers being able to do their jobs.”
The report found the number of street checks carried out by officers skyrocketed during the four years studied, going from fewer than 19,000 per year to more than 45,000 per year.
The SPVM’s two downtown stations carried out the most in the four years. Not counting the officers assigned to the Montreal airport, the station that conducted the fewest checks was the one serving Baie-d’Urfé, Beaconsfield, Kirkland, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue and Senneville.
The study also found an “important” number of checks went unreported by police, making it harder to understand the full scope
We have police officers who are citizens and who, inevitably, have biases like all citizens can have.
of the issue. In its recommendations, it called on the force to establish a clear protocol for when street checks are required and how they’re to be performed.
Recognizing the force needs to get rid of the disparities revealed, Caron announced a series of measures it will implement within the next year, matching the report’s five recommendations.
They include drafting a clear policy for street checks, mandating an external firm to survey minority communities on race relations, launching a similar study on racial profiling in February and implementing a focus on racial biases into all of its practices and training, with an emphasis placed on Indigenous issues.
The researchers worked on the report for a year. In conclusion, they urged the SPVM to use their findings as a chance to start playing a leading role in improving relations with the city’s minority communities.
“Although we can’t hold the SPVM responsible for all the existing social discrimination in Montreal,” the report says, “it can nevertheless decide to adopt a passive attitude (and participate in the perpetuation and exacerbation of these discriminations) or instead seek to be a driving force for positive social change.”