I Accuse: the SPVM and the architecture of denial

I take note. But the story taking shape, that of a handful of rogue officers unmasked by a vigilant leadership, is incomplete. Director Dagher did not create this situation. He inherited it. And what he inherited must be named, in full.

What the director inherited

In 1965, a survey revealed that about a quarter of Montreal police officers believed Black residents should live in separate neighbourhoods. In 1987, Anthony Griffin, 19 and unarmed, was shot dead by a police officer. In 1991, Marcellus François was killed by a tactical team that was not even looking for him.

In August 2008, Fredy Villanueva was killed in Montréal-Nord. That fall, psychologist Martin Courcy met with 63 young people from the neighbourhood. Their request was unanimous: « We want to be respected. » His report went nowhere. Street checks there had jumped 126% between 2001 and 2007, mostly targeting Black residents.

On June 29, 2015, the organization Evolu-Jeunes 19-30 ans wrote to Station 39. Its letter, with photos attached, set out allegations of intimidation, excessive force and arrests without cause. A meeting took place on July 8, 2015. According to the organization, nothing came of it. In May 2016, young people from Montréal-Nord publicly denounced the same practices; the borough mayor, Christine Black, had been informed.

Seven directors have headed the SPVM since 1998. What each of them knew, and what each did about it, has never been publicly established. That is precisely the role of a commission. Director Dagher inherited this file. He did not build it.

The architecture of denial

The SPVM has built an architecture of denial: the institution acknowledges the problem on paper while protecting the practices that produce it.

Between 2004 and 2026, the SPVM and the City produced at least six major plans and reports on racial profiling. None durably reduced the racial gap in street checks. In 2019, researchers mandated by the SPVM found that Black, Arab and Indigenous people were four to five times more likely to be stopped. In 2023, nine years of data showed no improvement, and the researchers recommended a moratorium on street checks without cause. Director Dagher refused it, then refused it again in August 2026. The 2026-2030 plan sets no numerical target.

Admissions, meanwhile, shrink as legal liability draws closer. In 2020, Mayor Valérie Plante acknowledged systemic racism that included the SPVM. Testifying at the Lamontagne trial, she said she could not state that the SPVM had racist practices « in a systematic way. »

Silence is also part of the structure. According to information reported by Radio-Canada and corroborated by my own sources, it was RCMP investigators, not the SPVM’s chain of command, who reportedly alerted the SPVM that officers at Station 21 had allegedly shared degrading photos of people in their custody on white supremacist websites. The public, for its part, learned of these cases through the media, led by La Presse. One may legitimately ask whether this silence was meant to protect the image of an already shaken organization.

In my view, apart from the rigorous work of journalists such as Yves Poirier and Pascale Robidas, Quebec’s major French-language media have too often contributed to the architecture of denial, by minimizing the seriousness of the situation within the SPVM or by relaying the institutional narrative without critical examination.

What the courts have already established

Where institutions hesitated, the courts ruled. In the Luamba case, the Superior Court struck down random traffic stops because they infringe the rights the Canadian Charter guarantees to Black drivers, including the right to equality under section 15. The Court of Appeal upheld that finding. The Supreme Court heard the case in January; its decision is pending.

In September 2024, in the Lamontagne class action, Justice Dominique Poulin concluded that racial profiling is a systemic problem at the SPVM and that the City is responsible for it. The City, the court ruled, cannot shift the blame onto its officers alone. The City has appealed the judgment.

Section 10 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms nonetheless guarantees equality without discrimination based on race or colour; in Montréal-Nord, it has too often remained a dead letter.

I accuse

I accuse the SPVM of having received the warnings of 2008, 2015 and 2016, and of leaving them to gather dust in drawers.

I accuse the institution of producing plan after plan, without targets or results, substituting promises for accountability.

I accuse the SPVM of having preferred protecting its image to transparency, as the Station 21 file suggests.

I accuse the City of Montreal of acknowledging systemic racism in its speeches while contesting it in court.

Finally, I accuse silence: that of supervisors who allegedly saw and said nothing, and that of a chain of command that has never had to answer publicly for what it knew.

I accuse no one of a crime. That role belongs to the courts. I accuse an institution of having failed, for decades, in its duty to protect all Montrealers equally. The 1% the director speaks of did not survive on its own: it thrived in a system that looked the other way.

A commission of inquiry, without delay

I call on the Government of Quebec to establish a public and independent commission of inquiry, chaired by a judge, into institutional racism and discrimination at the SPVM. The tool exists: the Act respecting public inquiry commissions makes it possible to summon witnesses, compel them to testify under oath and order the production of documents.

Its mandate must cover the history of these practices since 1965, the construction of the architecture of denial, the responsibility of the chain of command and of the City, and the protection of police whistleblowers. The Ligue des droits et libertés, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Official Opposition at City Hall are already calling for a public inquiry.

Mr. Director, the question of whether these officers were protected must be asked. Publicly support this commission, and let it answer.

In 2008, 63 young people from Montréal-Nord were only asking to be respected. Their children should not have to ask again.