Laval police vow to tackle racial profiling with new action plan

Laval’s police force is vowing to do more to tackle racial profiling within its service with an overhaul to its community-interaction and hiring policies.

"We realized the perception (of our service) is less positive for people of the minority and that’s a fact," said police chief Pierre Brochet on Wednesday following the release of a seven-part action plan to improve diversity and public relations.

Among other things, the police force is vowing to increase diversity in its workforce, hold training sessions for staff, and to develop outreach strategies "to listen to the needs of ethno-cultural communities."

Racialized Laval residents say change is long overdue. Jonathan Woodley said he feels safe once inside his fitness studio, but driving there is a different story. 

In 2018, he was pulled over in what he believes was a case of "driving while Black" and that the officer was motivated to flag him more by the colour of his skin than a possible driving infraction.

His case was brought to the Quebec Human Rights Commission, which agreed that he had been racially profiled.

Since then, driving to and from work has been difficult. 

"There’s paranoia," he said. "Am I going to get pulled over again? I try to make sure: am I sitting up right?"

It wasn’t the only time the Laval police came under public scrutiny for its officers’ conduct.

In the summer of 2020, a video surfaced on social media showing a Laval officer dragging a Black man out of the passenger seat of a car by his hair.

The man and his friends were driving in Laval when they were pulled over by police for driving erratically.

Officers had asked him to get out of the vehicle to conduct an investigation, but the man did not seem to know what the officer was referring to, replying, "what investigation?"

Chief Brochet acknowledged discrimination is a problem and told CTV one solution is recruiting more officers of colour.

Right now, just 8 per cent of the roughly 600 Laval officers are visible minorities.

The seven-step plan also includes more oversight, especially when it comes to street checks.

"Before, there were no real rules about it,” he said. "Now, to card someone, a police officer needs to have good information or observations."

Woodley said accountability policies are especially important to reduce racially-motivated policing.

"The cycle just doesn’t stop," he said. "Enough talk. We want tangible action."

With files from CTV News' Touria Izri