Montreal suburb promises police review after fourth profiling complaint upheld
A suburb north of Montreal says it is reviewing its police practices after a string of recent racial profiling complaints against its officers were upheld by a human rights commission.
The Quebec Human Rights Commission most recently found that the City of Repentigny discriminated against Leslie Blot when officers stopped, handcuffed and ticketed him when he was sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car blowing up inflatable toys for his children in 2017.
The commission ruled the evidence supports sending the case to be heard by the province's human rights tribunal unless the city agrees to a settlement that includes paying Blot more than $38,000 and taking several actions to reduce profiling, including collecting race-based data on police stops.
Repentigny police say on their Facebook page they have begun reviewing their practices and are putting together an action plan to make the organization more inclusive, but they did not comment directly on the decision.
Neither Blot, who is Black, nor Fo Niemi of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations has much confidence in the city's promises of change.
Niemi says Blot's case is the fourth time the rights commission has ruled against the city, and each time Repentigny has chosen to allow the file to proceed to the province's human rights tribunal rather than accepting the proposed settlement.
Blot alleges the incident in question was one of many times he was profiled by Repentigny police, and he doesn't see any evidence they've improved their practices.
-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published July 5, 2021
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.