Montreal police have a small amendment to their street check policy, created in 2020.
“We made a commitment to update the policy to better define the practice and improve communication with citizens,” police director Fady Dagher told reporters during a press briefing to announce the change.
Unless a person is being detained, Montreal police will now have to tell the person they stop that they have to right to leave and that they are under no obligation to identify themselves.
“We want to make sure that you don’t have any perception that you’re being detained,” Dagher explained.
The police make the distinction between a street check and an intervention. In the case of the latter, the person who’s stopped is obliged to cooperate with police. The police director pointed out that though the updated directive will be effective in fall this year, he’s asking officers to start implementing it now.
It does not apply to motorists.
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The directives governing street checks came after years of complaints of racial profiling by Montreal police. They commissioned an independent study which concluded that Indigenous, Black and Arab Monteralers were disproportionally stopped.
The researchers twice recommended that street checks without reasonable cause be stopped, something police have refused to so.
Critics say the new amendment is not enough, saying that nothing less than a ban on street checks is acceptable and arguing that these kinds of stops are at the root of social and racial profiling.
“No police officer can try to get the identity of a person without reasonable suspicion,” insists Lydia Khelil, spokesperson for Ligue des droits et libertés.
“It’s a norm across Canada.”
According to Dagher, several community groups asked them to continue with street checks, for safety reasons. He acknowledges that the new amendment keeps the door open to abuse, but that this is one step in the long process to change the culture of the police service.
The change to the policy will be presented publicly on Wednesday evening by the city’s public security commission, when members of the public can ask questions.
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