Recognizing racial profiling key to 'historic' Montreal class-action judgment: lawyer

A Montreal lawyer who co-piloted a successful class-action lawsuit against the City of Montreal for racial profiling by police says what's most important is not the financial compensation but the recognition of prejudice.

Mike Diomande said the decision released Tuesday was "historic" because it establishes that racialized people in the city were victims of profiling and that their Charter rights were violated.

"Beyond the judicial decision, you have individuals who are victims of racial profiling and I think this judgment is almost therapeutic for them," Diomande said in an interview Wednesday.

"Racial profiling is very difficult to establish in evidence, so individually, it's very difficult to prove … it's very insidious."

Superior Court Justice Dominique Poulin ruled that racial profiling is a "systemic" problem in the Montreal police force and that victims deserve up to $5,000. The city has 30 days to appeal the ruling; a spokesperson said the administration was studying the nearly 100-page decision.

The case was brought by the Black Coalition of Quebec, which had been fighting the battle for several years. The lead plaintiff was Alexandre Lamontagne, a Black man who was stopped by Montreal police while leaving an Old Montreal bar in August 2017.

During his arrest he was pinned to the ground, handcuffed and taken to the station. He was then issued three statements of offence and charged with obstructing police work and assaulting a police officer, but most proceedings against him were eventually dropped.

Diomande says his client was pleased that after a seven-year battle, the arrest has been recognized as a case of racial profiling. And he says the ruling could inspire similar class actions in other Canadian cities.

"The principles apply everywhere in Canada," Diomande said.

The Black Coalition of Quebec welcomed Tuesday's ruling, saying it is "the first organization in Quebec and indeed in Canada to obtain a ruling on the specific issue of racial profiling by the police."

"We hope it will be followed with adequate measures from authorities so that we don't have similar cases in the future," Coalition president Max Stanley Bazin said Wednesday.

With Tuesday's ruling, Lamontagne will receive $5,000. As well, the judge ordered the City of Montreal to pay $5,000 to those who were arrested without justification and whose information was recorded by police; others who were stopped by police but whose information wasn't collected are entitled to $2,500.

The judge said the parties will have to work out a plan on how members of the class action will get paid.

In August 2019, a Quebec Superior Court judge greenlighted the class action against the City of Montreal on behalf of racialized citizens who allege they were unfairly arrested, detained, and racially profiled by police between mid-August 2017 and January 2019. At the time, the amount of damages was estimated at $171 million.

Diomande said it is impossible to know how much the settlement will amount to now.

The period of time covered in the ruling is considerably shorter than what was requested. Members can claim compensation if they were profiled during a six-month window between July 11, 2018, and Jan. 11, 2019 -- as per rules on lawsuits covered by the Cities and Towns Act, Diomande said.

The judge also rejected a request for exemplary damages.

Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, a civil rights organization, says the decision is important because it puts municipalities across the province on notice.

"All cities, all police departments should heed (the ruling) and do more to avoid eventually being the target of a class-action lawsuit," said Niemi, who testified in the trial. "All these resources spent on a class action could be better spent preventing and eradicating racial profiling in policing."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2024.