Calls grow for independent investigation into alleged racism at Montréal

Calls grow for independent investigation into alleged racism at Montréal-Nord police station

16 officers being investigated for allegedly racist, violent behaviour during police stops

Quebec's Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafrenière is appointing an independent observer to follow the investigation by Montreal police into a group of officers accused of racial profiling and discrimination in Montréal-Nord.

Lafrenière also didn't rule out the possibility of holding a public inquiry if necessary.

The minister made the announcement on X, shortly after Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada joined mounting calls for an independent investigation into the allegations during a brief news conference on Monday afternoon.

"We do need to make sure that citizens know that there's an independent process doing the inquiry," she said, adding that a public inquiry is only possible once charges are formally brought forward by prosecutors.

Last Friday Montreal police Chief Fady Dagher held an unprecedented late-night news conference to announce the launch of the investigation built on internal reports made by other officers at Station 39 in the Montréal-Nord borough.

As racism allegations surface, Montréal-Nord community leaders ask police: What now?

The Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM) has already recommended criminal charges against two of the 16 officers under investigation at the station, and Dagher says he's expecting more allegations to surface.

In his post, Lafrenière said that depending on what the observer reports back, there are other mechanisms he can lean on to produce answers, such as transferring the investigation to another police service or Quebec's police watchdog, the BEI.

Several Quebec politicians and advocates have argued the investigation into the SPVM's culture and officers shouldn't remain in the hands of Montreal police.

On Monday morning, two Liberal MNAs formally asked provincial police to lead the investigation.

Another opposition party, Québec Solidaire, called for an independent review.

"Given the scale and severity of the revelations, we cannot accept that the only response is a targeted, internal investigation by the SPVM," said Ruba Ghazal, an MNA and party spokesperson.

"Who can believe that only these 16 officers slipped through the cracks, that they are an isolated case?"

‘Anger, sadness, a sense of deja-vu': Montréal-Nord mayor responds to police racism allegations

Montreal mayor urges calm, vows to uncover truth after police unit suspected of racist behaviour

Hoodstock, a Montréal-Nord social justice organization, is also pushing for an independent investigation, categorically rejecting the SPVM's internal investigation. The group was formed after the shooting death of 18-year-old Fredy Villanueva by a Montreal police officer in 2008.

"We want to make sure that the police officers who are accused of doing those things are not going back to their office, to their normal job, or to another neighbourhood in Montreal," said Hoodstock's general co-ordinator, Cassandra Exumé.

Residents are preparing a protest outside Station 39 on Monday evening.

Dagher calls the expression of frustration at this moment "necessary," adding that though he won't be there, there will be a police presence to ensure the protest doesn't turn "dangerous."

Dagher says police culture at crux of issue

Speaking on CBC's Daybreak Monday morning, Dagher said the issue inside the SPVM is a cultural one. The police chief took up his position three years ago with a focus on racial profiling and building trust with communities.

"I think that group decided to marginalize themselves and go against the vision that I propose," he said about the 16 officers under investigation.

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez-Ferrada said Sunday she will work with the Quebec government to accelerate the implementation of body-worn cameras, but Dagher says it's only part of the solution.

"When you already have that kind of mentality, being that violent or the gestures that they pose [are] so disgusting, I'm not sure the camera would be the only solution," he said. "When you work on the culture, when you work on the behaviour, it takes much more than that."

SPVM chief speaks about investigation into officers accused of ‘co-ordinated’ racist, hateful acts

According to a Radio-Canada source, the officers have been accused of collecting pieces of locs that had been cut from individuals' hair during police interventions to keep as "trophies."

Radio-Canada also reported that tickets were allegedly issued to citizens solely based on their ethnic background.

Most of the officers involved are young men with less than five years of service, according to Dagher.

'Years and years' of mistreatment, lawyer says

For lawyer Dardia Joseph, this puts in doubt the effectiveness of the cultural reform supposedly underway at the SPVM. The assistant director of the Clinique Juridique Saint-Michel said she's also worried about the threshold of violence that was required for the group to get the attention it's getting.

"Victims, literature, lawyers, people working on the ground have been describing arbitrary stops, excessive force, differential treatment for years and for years," she said on Daybreak.

She said she hopes Dagher can bring justice for the community of Montréal-Nord.

"Every time something like that happens, we have a flux of public attention and then it vanishes. So how do we keep putting pressure for something different to happen?" she said.

Montréal-Nord borough mayor responds to investigation of police racism at SPVM Station 39

Dagher said he's trying to figure out what went wrong between the officers' graduation from the police academy and working in the field.

The fact that the individuals under investigation were reported by other police officers gives him hope, he says.

"Finally, someone from inside the police, a group of police officers spoke about it, didn't accept it, and now the police department is pressing charges against those cops," he said.

In the meantime, Dagher says he's hoping to build back the local police's relationship with the community in Montréal-Nord. He also wants more people, whether inside or outside the force, to reach out with their own stories to help push the investigation forward.

"There's a lot of anger right now, but I'm hoping that after this crisis, and during the crisis, we're going to get closer to them to open a dialogue," he said.

With files from CBC Daybreak and Djeneba Dosso