CCLA Defends Landmark Ruling Striking Down Racially Profiling Roadside Stops

OTTAWA — The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) will appear before the Supreme Court of Canada today to defend a landmark Quebec Court of Appeal decision declaring the police power to conduct arbitrary traffic stops that enable racial profiling as unconstitutional.

“This case presents a critical opportunity for the Supreme Court of Canada to confirm that police powers and practices that enable racial profiling cannot be justified under the Charter,” said Harini Sivalingam, Director of the Equality Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “The evidence is clear: these stops are not random, the harms they cause are profound and long-lasting, and the power to carry them out is in no way necessary to protect public safety.

CCLA is asking the Supreme Court to uphold the Quebec Court of Appeal’s decision and affirm that arbitrary roadside stops violate the Charter’s guarantees of equality, liberty, and freedom from arbitrary detention.

At the heart of the Luamba case is whether police should be permitted to conduct roadside stops without any suspicion of wrongdoing. As both the trial judge and the Court of Appeal concluded, these stops are carried out in massively disproportionate numbers against Black and other racialized drivers. CCLA argues that such unfettered discretionary powers violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms because they enable racial profiling and result in discriminatory and arbitrary detentions.

“These stops undermine public confidence in policing and erode trust in the justice system as a whole” says Howard Sapers, Executive Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.  “Such police powers that violate sections 7, 9, and 15 of the Charter cannot be justified in a free and democratic society.”

CCLA is a Respondent in the case, having helped lead extensive evidence as a conservatory intervenor before both the Quebec Superior Court. That evidence demonstrated that Black and other racialized drivers are stopped at significantly higher rates than white drivers and face serious harms, including fear, humiliation, psychological distress, and enduring mistrust of police and the justice system. As the Court of Appeal confirmed, there is also almost no evidence to demonstrate that the power to conduct stops on an entirely arbitrary basis is useful or necessary for public safety purposes.

CCLA also wishes to recognize and celebrate the courageous efforts of Joseph-Christopher Luamba and his counsel Mtre Mike Siméon, as well as his former counsel, Alexandre Bien-Aimé (now a judge at the Superior Court of Quebec), in bringing forward this monumental civil liberties challenge to the attention of the courts.

CCLA is grateful for the excellent legal representation in this matter by Bruce Johnston, Lex Gill, and Louis-Alexandre Hébert-Gosselin of Trudel Johnston & Lespérance.

Read CCLA’s factum (written legal arguments) here.