CCLA Argues Before the Quebec Court of Appeal in Landmark Racial Profiling Case

MONTREAL — The Canadian Civil Liberties Association will appear before the Court of Appeal of Quebec today to defend the landmark decision of the Superior Court declaring that suspicionless police roadside stops are unconstitutional. That decision, handed down on October 25, 2022, declared such traffic stops “intolerable to those concerned because they are based on appearances and more or less conscious prejudice associated with the color of their skin, rather than on a road safety objective.”

The Attorney General of Quebec filed an appeal of the court’s decision.

“The government is trying to turn back the clock and fighting to bring back this unfair power and we are making clear to the court they should not, and must not, allow an important civil rights victory to be overturned,” said Harini Sivalingam, Director of Equality for the CCLA.

The CCLA is a respondent in the appeal and, alongside the plaintiff, played an active role in the 21-day trial, where the Court heard testimony from victims, police officers, government officials, and four experts.

It argues that the Court should dismiss the government’s appeal and ensure that police powers that open the door to racial profiling continue to be recognized as unconstitutional.

“Decades of lived experiences of Black, Indigenous and racialized people who have been subjected to racial profiling demonstrate the significant harms to these communities as a result of these overbroad police powers around suspicionless vehicle stops,” continued Sivalingam. “Research data confirms that Black, Indigenous and racialized people are more likely to be stopped by police, and the trial judge agreed.”

Structural and systemic discrimination by law enforcement are sustained through those types of discretionary police powers that enable and exacerbate racial profiling of Black, Indigenous and racialized people. Justice Yergeau’s landmark decision declared the law authorizing these arbitrary police powers unconstitutional and overturned a 30-year-old precedent. CCLA will continue to fight for the rights and dignity of Black, Indigenous, and racialized people by arguing that the government’s appeal should be dismissed.

CCLA is represented by our counsel Bruce Johnston, Lex Gill and Louis-Alexandre Hébert-Gosselin of Trudel Johnston & Lespérance.

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Relevant Court Filings:

• Appeal Factum

About the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
The CCLA is an independent, non-profit organization with supporters from across the country. Founded in 1964, the CCLA is a national human rights organization committed to defending the rights, dignity, safety, and freedoms of all people in Canada.

Media Contact:
media@ccla.org
Alex Nanoff – 613.709.6318