The Quebec government believes its new police reform is tackling racial profiling.
The issue has been prominent in the past few years, with many groups demanding an end to random street checks.
“Driving while Black is not a motive. You cannot use that as a motive to decide, ‘OK, I’m going to pull you over.’ That’s what we’re putting an end to,” said Christopher Skeete, Quebec’s minister responsible for the fight against racism.
While Quebec is not outright banning random street checks by police, it’s forbidding random checks based on race or motivated by discrimination, something that’s already illegal under the Charter of Rights.
“Police officers need the tools that they have in order to do a good job, and I often say to the people that I cross, who have opposing views, I say: ‘you really don’t want to live in a world where police officers don’t feel that they can do their job.’ So, we think that this a perfect balance that brings us where we want to go,” Skeete explained.
In order to enforce the directive, Quebec’s Public Security Minister François Bonnardel says they will be offering continuous training for police officers and will also be giving more powers to the police ethics commissioner, so they can improve the complaint process made by people against officers.
“Allow the police ethics commissioner to hold an investigation himself when he deems it’s necessary, allow citizens to make an anonymous report to the police ethics commissioner.”
Officers would also face sanctions.
When it comes to cases of missing people, the reform also gives police the means to obtain permission from a judge to collect some information related to phone and banking activity to help find people more quickly.
Officials say they are addressing recommendations made two years ago by the committee studying the police force in Quebec.
But some activists say the bill doesn’t go far enough.
“The actions are not focusing on the root of this phenomenon. The root is police power and police discretionary power,” said Lynda Khelil, a member of the Ligue des droits et libertés.
The organization also criticized the fact that the bill didn’t change the structure of the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), which has police officers investigate incidents where a citizen is seriously injured by another member of the force.
“Concerning the BEI, the government is still letting the BEI be a body that is not independent, transparent and impartial,” Khelil says.
For the head of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), Fo Niemi, the bill lacks detail.
“We think it should be more explicit, especially in terms of sending a message to the police community as to what is going to be tolerated and what’s not going to be accepted in terms of police practices,” Niemi explained.
Niemi says there needs to be an effort made to include more of the recommendations made by the committee.
“For example, to prolong the deadline with which citizens can file police complaints with the police ethics commissioner; more importantly, what is the role of accountability of the police chief and the police department in dealing, among other things, with community relations and discrimination,” Niemi said.
Meanwhile, the police brotherhood says they will take time to analyze the contents of the reform and won’t comment any further.