Class action authorized against 9 police forces over random stops of racialized people

Sidhartha Banerjee · The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 11, 2025 1:24 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

A Quebec Superior Court justice has authorized a class-action suit brought connected behalf of racialized radical who were
stopped portion down the instrumentality by constabulary without crushed to fishy an offence.

Justice Catherine Piché authorized the suit successful a ruling rendered past month, which targets constabulary successful 8 suspect cities and the Quebec lawyer general, which represents the provincial police.

The database of defendants covers constabulary patrolling overmuch of the province, including its largest cities — Montreal and surrounding suburbs, Gatineau and Quebec City.

"It follows that adjacent if we stay cautious astatine this signifier ... the contiguous petition appears to maine to beryllium thing but frivolous," Piché wrote.

The suit was filed successful November 2022 by Papa Ndianko Gueye, pursuing a halt successful Longueuil, Que. conscionable southbound of Montreal.

He represents "any racialized idiosyncratic who has been the unfortunate of radical profiling during a postulation halt without crushed to fishy the committee of an offence by the constabulary services of 1 of the suspect cities oregon by the Quebec provincial constabulary since May 23, 2019."

Gueye alleges helium was stopped portion driving his achromatic Audi connected March 26, 2021,  but didn't perpetrate a postulation violation. The serviceman told him he'd stopped him for driving implicit the velocity limit, and Gueye alleged the serviceman became assertive and summoned backup quickly.

A fewer days aft the stop, helium went to the constabulary presumption to inquire astir the interception but was told constabulary did not person any
grounds of it. He received 3 tickets successful the mail, including 1 for speeding. He alleges the interception was based connected "no genuine motive" and characterized it arsenic radical profiling.

The people enactment was filed successful November 2022, 2 weeks aft a landmark determination by Quebec Superior Court Justice Michel Yergeau successful a lawsuit seeking to person a communal instrumentality regularisation allowing Canadian constabulary to halt drivers for nary crushed to beryllium declared unconstitutional.

Yergeau sided with Joseph-Christopher Luamba, a Montrealer of Haitian descent, ruling radical profiling exists and is simply a world weighing heavy connected Black people.

Yergeau's ruling efficaciously nullified Section 636 of the province's Highway Safety Code, which gives officers discretionary powerfulness to halt immoderate conveyance without reason.

"The preponderant grounds shows that implicit time, the arbitrary powerfulness granted to the constabulary to transportation retired roadside stops
without origin has go for immoderate of them a vector, adjacent a harmless conduit for radical profiling against the Black community," Yergeau wrote successful October 2022.

"The regularisation of instrumentality frankincense becomes a breach done which this sneaky signifier of racism rushes in."

Gueye's lawyers see a operation of the aforesaid lawyers successful the Luamba case. His filing alleges constabulary forces successful those cities systematically exercised this powerfulness successful a discriminatory mode successful usurpation of the rights and freedoms of those falling nether the class.

The Quebec authorities has appealed the Luamba ruling, arguing it deprived constabulary of an important instrumentality to halt crime, but the Court of Appeal upheld Yergeau's determination past twelvemonth and gave the state six months to marque the indispensable changes to the Highway Safety Code.

Quebec's Public Security Ministry announced past period that astir random postulation stops by constabulary had been suspended, aft the Court of Appeal refused to assistance an extension.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to perceive a lawsuit astir whether it's law for constabulary to marque a random postulation halt without tenable suspicion the operator has committed an offence.

In the Gueye case, the parties are expected earlier the Superior Court sometime successful the adjacent 2 months for a hearing.