Montreal, December 8, 2023 – The League for Rights and Freedoms (LDL), the Clinique Droit de cité, the Coalition Rouge, Lakay, and the Quebec City branch of the League for Rights and Freedoms note that the Guidelines on Police Stops (the guidelines) are a smokescreen and will do nothing to address the problem of police stops and racial and social profiling in Quebec. The guidelines were added to the website of the Ministry of Public Security without any public announcement from the responsible minister, François Bonnardel.

The guideline maintains the arbitrary practice of street checks, even though police officers in Quebec do not have the authority to make stops under statute or common law. Police stops, or street checks, violate the rights and freedoms of the entire population and are a known and documented source of systemic racial and social profiling. Indigenous, Black, racialized, and marginalized populations are disproportionately targeted by this practice.

To finally put an end to this arbitrary practice, two elements must be included in the guidelines. In fact, in a letter dated November 8, 2023, 36 community groups, advocacy groups, unions, and legal clinics clearly indicated to Minister Bonnardel the need to include at least these two elements in the guidelines.

First, the guideline maintains the observable facts criterion, which leaves the door open to police arbitrariness. The guideline should instead adopt the legal standard of reasonable grounds to suspect. In the absence of reasonable grounds to suspect a clear link between a person and a recent or ongoing criminal offence, a police officer should not attempt to collect that person's identifying information.
Second element: the guideline contains no obligation for police officers to inform any person stopped – and on the basis of reasonable suspicion – that they are not legally obliged to identify themselves and answer questions, that they can refuse to do so and that they can leave without fear.

The Quebec government and Minister Bonnardel cannot claim that a guideline stating that police stops must not be discriminatory will combat the systemic problem of racial and social profiling. Do they need reminding that section 10 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms has already prohibited discrimination based on grounds such as race or social status since 1975?
With this guideline, the Quebec government and Minister Bonnardel are once again demonstrating that they have no intention of seriously fighting racial and social profiling.

Quotes
«The Quebec government must put an end to police stops, an arbitrary practice that creates insecurity for the individuals and communities targeted by the police. Instead of taking action, Minister Bonnardel is adopting a policy that maintains these stops. He is allowing the scourge of racial and social profiling to continue,» stated Lynda Khelil, spokesperson for the LDL.
«It’s enough to deny it; racialized populations, particularly the Black community, are discriminated against in public spaces. The excessive police stops of Black, racialized and Indigenous people constitute racial profiling and a form of harassment,» says Maxim Fortin, coordinator of the LDL – Quebec chapter.
Josiane Mondou, coordinator at the Clinique Droit de cité in Quebec City, observes in her work that "a person in a vulnerable situation will be more likely to be stopped by police for trivial reasons which lead to unnecessary stress and even to tickets, directly hindering the recovery of people.".
«It is essential that the Quebec government take concrete steps to combat racial and social profiling. This current guideline shows a lack of serious commitment to this fight, and this must be rectified to ensure a just and equitable society for all,» says Pierre Richard Thomas, president of Lakay.
«"Police stops are either illegal (Nova Scotia), regulated by law (Ontario) or prohibited everywhere in Canada except Quebec! After the Yergeau ruling was appealed, the message to government police is clear: we've got your back," says Alain Babineau, director of racial profiling and public safety for the Coalition Rouge.
Highlights
A police stop is a situation where a police officer attempts to obtain a person's identity and collect information from them, even though the person has no legal obligation to identify themselves or answer questions. The person is not suspected of any offence or crime. The information may then be recorded by the police officer in a database for police intelligence purposes, which constitutes an abusive collection of personal information. A police stop occurs outside the context of a police investigation and is not among the recognized police powers of arrest and detention. Police officers in Quebec do not have the authority to conduct police stops under statute or common law.
Letter to Minister Bonnardel, November 8, 2023, co-signed by 36 organizations: https://liguedesdroits.ca/ligne-directrice-sur-les-interpellations-policieres-et-cadre-de-collecte-de-donnees
Second report on police stops in Montreal recommending a moratorium on stops (June 2023): https://spvm.qc.ca/upload/02/Rapport_final_2e_mandat.pdf
Campaign to ban police stops in Quebec: https://liguedesdroits.ca/campagne-interdiction-interpellations-policieres
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For information and interviews:
Elisabeth Dupuis, Communications Officer, League for Rights and Freedoms, Cell: 514-715-7727