Rebuilding public trust part of Montreal police action plan to fight discrimination

Montreal’s police department has an action plan to promote equity, diversity and inclusion, and to fight racism and discrimination.

The police say their aim is to not only rebuild the trust of the population but to create an inclusive working environment for employees. Their plan includes a number of measures they have already taken, such as training members on concepts of equity, diversity and inclusion as well as how to stop racial profiling and discrimination.

During a public presentation of the plan at Montreal city hall, police director Fady Dagher they said they’ve also established committees of experts from various communities to target certain issues.

There are are eight issues they say they are still working on. Among them is a revision of the police department’s policy on street checks. That’s one thing some community groups have been calling for in the wake of numerous accusations of profiling by some officers. Just in March, two cops were suspended for more than a month without pay for racial profiling.

According to the plan, they also want to establish internal support networks for at-risk groups within the department, such as a committee on sexual and gender diversity, a support group for Black and Afro-descendent employees and a network of Arabic-speaking officers and civilians.

Dagher stressed that some changes to the core causes of discrimination won’t happen overnight.

“Don’t get me wrong, these won’t be quick results,” Dagher told reporters after the presentation.

“It’s going to take many years, but it’s going to happen because we’re attacking from the bottom — we’re tackling the cause.”

Some community groups say the action plan is a step in the right direction, but point out that there’s still work to do.

The police chief said the revised policy on street checks should be ready by this fall.

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