Black, Indigenous people 4 to 5 times more likely than whites to be stopped by Montreal police

A report from three independent researchers found that there is systemic bias in street checks done by Montreal police, but stops short of concluding officers are guilty of racial profiling.

The report, commissionedby the City of Montreal,wasauthored by UQAM sociologist Victor Armony and Universit de Montral criminologist Massimiliano Mulone, as well as Universit TLUQ sociologist MariamHassaoui.

The authors combed throughdatacollected between2014 and2017 during police "street checks" when officers stop people who have not necessarily committed an infraction.

They found that Indigenous people and Black people were four to five times more likely than white people to be stopped by police.

Indigenous women were particularly overrepresented: they were 11 times more likely to be stopped by police than white women.

Young Arab peoplebetween the ages of 15 and 24were four timesmore likely than white people of the same age to be targeted for a street check.

The researchers'task was limited to tallying up the numbers availableand breaking the data down by race.

Still, they went so far as to conclude that "even though it is not up to us to determine whether racial profiling exists, it is obvious that the results of our analysis reveal disparities and disproportionalities,whichsuggest the presence of systemic biases."

Montreal police Chief Sylvain Caron said he has asked the authors to return for a second mandate, to take a deeper look at why his officers stopmore people from visible minority groupsthan white people.

No policy on street checks

In their report, the researchers also criticize the Montreal police service (SPVM) for havingno policyoutlining when and why someone should be stopped for a street check.

They say the absence of a rule leaves the door open to "troubling dynamics."

Caron said his force is working on a policy to define when street checks are justified, which the SPVMsaid will be in effect by March 2020.

The report makes five recommendations:

1. The SPVMshould create a street check policy.
2. The SPVM should produce and publish an annual statistical report that keeps track of how often Indigenous people and visible minorities are stopped by police.
3. The SPVM should develop additional procedures to monitor racial profiling.
4. The SPVM shouldevaluate every program, practice and plan by itsimpact on racial profiling (negative or positive).
5. The SPVM should continue to train police officers on preventingsystemic discrimination, while focusing in particular on the Indigenous population.

Police chief 'shocked' by report

Caron says he was "very surprised" by the report's findings, however, he takes them seriously.

Advocacy groups, some of them maybe have agendas. That's fine. But we want to go with something factual.- Andr Durocher, Montreal police spokesperson

Asked why he was so surprised, as civil rights advocates have tried to shine a light on cases of alleged racial profiling by policefor over a decade, Caronreminded reportershe has only been on the job since last December.

SPVM spokesperson, Andr Durocher, elaborated further.

"You have to understand that advocacy groups, some of them maybe have agendas. That's fine. But we want to go with something factual. The report is factual. We'll address it in a factual way. The measures we'll take will be based on facts and not opinions," he said.

The SPVM chief said his forcehas fully accepted the report and its conclusions.

"We are obviously very concerned by these results. I am very worried," Caronsaid.

He vowed to take quick, concrete and transparent action to reduce racial disparities.

Among those measures, theSPVM said it is setting up a teamspecializedin intervention with people from cultural communities and those with special needs, due to be established by next March.

'They have to accept to use the R-word': CRARR

Nakuset,the executive director of the Native Women's Shelter in Montreal, said she doesn't understand why anyone is surprised by thefindings.

"I'm glad that this report came out, and I'm glad that people are shocked, because hopefully that means they'll do something,"she said. "Let's see."

One of Montreal's most outspoken civil rights advocates, Fo Niemi, said this report is a step towards recognizing systemic racism exists.

Niemi, the executive director of the Centerfor Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR), saidit's time to change themindset of authorities.

"They have to accept to use the R-word, the systemic racism concept," he said. Toaddress racism, people need to first be able to talk about it, he said.

Mayor Valerie Plante'shocked' by results

Mayor Valerie Plantesaid in a tweet she was "shocked" by the results of the research, which she called "very worrisome."

Plante called on police to follow all recommendations in the report.

"We can see that there is clearly a fundamental problem that leads to systemic discrimination," she said.

Plante said she wants all Montrealers, regardless of their originor status, to know they have the right to fair treatment by police.