Racial issue stories of the day
Police have rebuffed the study that showed the Quiétude squad, tasked with getting illegal guns off the street, had basically gone around arresting Black men but not charging them with firearms offenses. One is quoted here: ” La culture des armes à feu […] est liée au phénomène des gangs, à la criminalité de rue et à la pauvreté, et est malheureusement, par le fait même, souvent liée à l’immigration.”
Toula Drimonis has a good piece today on CultMTL about the Quiétude squad and the mirage that Montreal is facing a lot of gun violence.
Two young Black men are suing the city for $4 million over a claim they were profiled when police stopped them as they walked up the Main five years ago. What happened next resulted in injuries to the men, who had asked the police why they were being stopped, and the case is based on their claim they also suffered extensive psychological trauma afterwards.
Another Atikamekw patient has died in hospital after reporting that he overheard racist remarks made about him.
A new report lists 200 criminal investigations launched since 2015 following allegations made by First Nations individuals against police officers.
Meezly 10:11 on 2020-10-16 Permalink
Hopefully the new city commissioner of racism will tackle Quiétude, perhaps a full review of that department would be a good start.
You don’t need a special OCPM report to prove how systemic racism is embedded in our fair city.
Chris 22:47 on 2020-10-16 Permalink
“Ce policier déplore que des zones existent à Montréal où la direction du SPVM ne veut pas que se rendent les policiers … Il dit que les policiers ont l’ordre de ne pas arrêter des individus dans certains secteurs”
I hadn’t heard that before. Anyone know of any independent confirmation/denial?