City of Montreal to pay $6M, publicly apologize for arrests in student protests

A Superior Court judge has approved an agreement for the City of Montreal to pay $6 million to hundreds of protesters who were arrested by police during demonstrations between 2011 and 2015.

In a decision handed down last week, Justice Martin Sheehan authorized the multimillion-dollar payout to settle 16 different class-action suits related to the protests in which plaintiffs alleged their fundamental rights were violated. More than 3,000 plaintiffs will be entitled to $1,500 each in compensatory and punitive damages, according to the ruling.

The City of Montreal will also be forced to post a public apology on its website within 10 days of the judgment.

Most of the protests were related to the massive student uprising in 2012 against hikes in tuition fees that came to be known as "Maple Spring" movement. There were more than 700 protests in 2012 alone as part of the movement, which were also marked by clashes with police officers.

Montreal police came under fire for the tactics they used during the street protests, including "kettling" large groups of protesters and issuing hefty fines. Kettling is a police tactic used to control large crowds during protests by containing them within a limited area.

The student-led uprising was also credited with helping to bring down Jean Charest's Liberal government, which was in power at the time.

A controversial bylaw introduced by the city in 2012 was also questioned by the courts. The P-6 bylaw required protesters to provide police with an itinerary and route of a protest before it began and banned protesters from wearing masks. Parts of the bylaw were ruled unconstitutional when they were struck down by the Superior Court in 2016. 

CITY TO ACKNOWLEDGE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED

As part of the judgment issued by Justice Sheehan last week, the City of Montreal must issue the public apology on its website for 90 days. The apology will state:

"Between 2011 and 2015, various social protest movements led to major demonstrations in Montreal.

As part of the out-of-court settlement of 16 class actions for which the City of Montréal is being sued in this context, the City recognizes that certain actions taken by police forces and the municipal administration towards participants in the demonstrations covered by these class actions infringed on some of their fundamental rights, thereby causing them damages.

For this reason, the City of Montreal publicly apologizes to all these people."

Some of the plaintiffs were represented by civil rights lawyer Marc Chétrit, who said Tuesday he was "proud and satisfied" with the court's decision.

Civil rights lawyer Marc Chetrit represented some of the members who were part of the 16 class-action suits against the City of Montreal. (CTV News)

He said most of the tickets issued to protesters were cancelled in 2015, which was the first "victory" in the years-long court battle.

Chétrit said the the awarding of damages is a "very important" step for the members of the class-action suits after their freedom of expression and peaceful assembly rights were violated.

"It had to be essentially known that you should not fear to go out and exercise your fundamental freedoms on the streets in Canada or Quebec under the charters of both those jurisdictions," he said.