Rights group wants other provinces to end random police checks banned by Quebec judge
MONTREAL – The Canadian Civil Liberties Association welcomes a decision by the Superior Court of Quebec banning random police stops and calls on other provinces to end this practice without waiting to be brought to justice.
Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, the group’s executive director and general counsel, says individual police departments could also create policies ending random stops.
Judge Michel Yergeau ruled on Tuesday that random roadside checks are unconstitutional on the grounds that they enable racial profiling – particularly of black motorists.
The decision, which overturns rules established in a 1990 Supreme Court ruling, applies only to Quebec.
The province’s Association of Chiefs of Police said in a statement today that the section of Quebec’s Highway Safety Code that has been struck down is necessary to ensure that motorists follow the rules of the road.
The ACLC had intervener status in the lawsuit brought by Joseph-Christopher Luamba, a 22-year-old black Montrealer who says he was arrested by the police nearly a dozen times for no reason.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 26, 2022.
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