MONTREAL -- Laval’s mayor is promising to end racial profiling by police, announcing sweeping changes on Monday including abolishing street checks.
There was one oddity to the press conference on Monday where Laval Mayor Marc Demers described all this, though: the police chief was nowhere to be seen.
The police force said it would make its own announcement later. Demers forged ahead, saying it was time for a change.
First-generation immigrants make up a third of Laval’s population, Demers said. One change he announced was more hiring of officers from minority groups.
Last month, a video was widely circulated in the community showing Laval officers pulling a Black man out of the backseat of a car by his hair. In the wake of it, the police chief, Pierre Brochet, said the force didn’t have a racism problem.
Mayor Demers disagreed bluntly on Monday.
“I think there is a certain problem there and it needs to be resolved,” he said.
Lawyer Fernando Belton said changing rules is a good first step, but real cultural change within any police force—shifting biases and mindsets—takes a long, concerted effort of good faith.
“It’s common knowledge that when police officers see Black people in the car, they associate us with being criminal,” he said.
He said it wasn’t encouraging not to see the police chief on the dias with the mayor.
“That says everything about where people want to go, how far they’re willing to go, in getting rid of the problem,” he said.
Watch the videos above to hear more about Laval’s plans and to hear what former Mountie Alain Babineau thinks of them.
