The Police Ethics Commissioner has dismissed a complaint filed by a mother of two girls who were hit with pepper spray when their father was targeted by Chateauguay police in what was largely considered a case of racial profiling.

The decision was received last week after an unsuccessful conciliation in June of 2017.

Rosemarie Edwards filed the complaint with the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) when she and her husband, John Chilcott, were stopped by police back in December 2015.

The couple claims they were followed by police while driving in their car with their two children.

An officer approached Chilcott—who asked the officer what he’d done wrong—but the officer proceeded to  pepper spray him in the face.

His children were also hit by the residual spray, and later treated in hospital for minor injuries.

Edwards took a video of the incident on her phone.

Chiltcott had no criminal record to speak of, and the couple was perplexed and outraged by the police officer’s actions. Chilcott was eventually taken to the police station, but not charged.

Four days later, he received three tickets totalling more than $1,000 in fines.

To this day, Chilcotte remains convinced he was stopped because of racial profiling.

"It's total disregard for black people, black young men like myself, and my black children," said Chilcott.

At the time, Chateauguay police said the officer’s actions were due to infractions to the highway safety code, and alleged that Chilcott refused to provide identification. They refused to comment further on the matter.

However, in a statement released Wednesday, CRARR points out that Chilcott’s children were never interviewed by the commissioner’s staff, and their testimony was never obtained on record—despite having been witness to the incident.

“The decision is considered as evidence of the Commissioner’s overlooking a complaint involving police conduct harming the health and safety of black children,” CRAAR spokesperson Fo Niemi wrote in the statement.

Now 11 years old, Emilyrose Chilcott told reporters at the CRARR offices in Montreal what she remembers from that fateful day two years ago.

"My dad said, 'Why sir? I'm just trying to take my kids to school,' and the police said it three more times, and my dad said 'why sir, I'm just trying to take my kids to school. My sister and I were behind my dad's seat, and the officer stepped back and talked into his radio, stepped back to the car, and started pepper spraying us," Emilyrose explained. 

"It reached all over the car, got into me and my sister's throat and in our eyes," she said. 

The fact that the Chateauguay police never reached out to apologize or acknowledge the incident is a source of the family's anger. With the assistance of CRARR, the family is planning to launch an appeal and hope that the testimony of Chilcott's two daughters will help in the process.