The new policy explicitly bans stopping someone based on identity factors and requires police to let subjects know they can walk away at any time.

Chief Daniel Kinsella says police are sorry for actions that have caused pain, mistreatment and victimization.

"We have concluded that there is no power for the police to conduct street checks in HRM," reads the report containing the legal opinion.

Although Nova Scotia's justice minister has formally instituted a moratorium on street checks, Halifax Regional Police have previously declined to apologize for the practice.

A Montreal man is preparing to take legal action after he says he was racially profiled by local police officers three times within the last year.

Roughly a dozen people attended the meeting at the Black Cultural Centre in Cherrybrook, N.S., on Tuesday.

Regina Police Service is adopting a new policy that outlines how officers can approach people on the street while conducting contact interviews.

Halifax police officers were on hand during the peaceful protest, which lasted about 60 minutes. Officers say there were no issues. 

The independent human rights report released Wednesday found street check rates in Halifax were among the highest in Canada, second only to Toronto, with black males the most likely to be stopped by police.

The report investigates the crime-fighting potential of street checks and weighs it against the possible negative impact on racialized communities.