Montreal mayor calls for halt to random police checks amid profiling probe

Montreal’s mayor has urged a stop to random police checks as the city’s force faces an internal investigation into racism and racial profiling by 16 officers. Soraya Martinez Ferrada told reporters that her husband, who is Black, had been stopped repeatedly while driving — “Like many other Black people in our city and the racialized people this happens too many times.” She said the checks occurred at least five times within the last year “for no reason at all”.

The city’s police chief held a late-night briefing to say more than a dozen officers had been reassigned or relocated while investigators examine claims that mostly young men with less than five years on the force disproportionately targeted Black and Arab residents.

Two more officers have been suspended and two cases have been submitted to Quebec’s director of criminal and penal prosecutions to determine whether criminal charges should be laid.

Canada, Montreal, Quebec

montreal, montreal mayor, police checks, random checks, racial profiling, racism, internal investigation, suspended officers, black residents, arab residents