Trust, cameras and cops
Fady Dagher finally bringing down the hammer on abusive police in Montreal North has met a deadpan lack of surprise among Black men in the area.
SMF has to say something about abusive police, but the situation went well beyond trust being broken between police and communities a long time ago.
Maybe our cops will get body cams now, but after this fuss has died down, maybe she’ll hold some consultations and have a report written eventually.
jeather 12:19 on 2026-06-14 Permalink
I notice nothing real from the premier, who I assume can’t figure out how to say this was bad but don’t worry, Quebec has no systemic racism.
That said I had no idea SMF was with a Black man, and she really did just say “there’s systemic racism and profiling and we need to talk about it”, which is a pretty big statement. That was my biggest problem with VP.
bob 15:19 on 2026-06-14 Permalink
After the fuss dies down the party line will be that there was an isolated racism problem, but we took care of it, and there is no systemic racism in Quebec.
Ian 20:51 on 2026-06-14 Permalink
Maybe… but SMF is a POC and an immigrant – and that makes a big difference, too.
I think she might have more skin in the game (pun intended) than any Montreal administration before hers.
Kate 09:04 on 2026-06-15 Permalink
Is SMF a POC? She is a white woman from Chile.
Ian 10:12 on 2026-06-15 Permalink
Chileans are Latino.
Kate 10:51 on 2026-06-15 Permalink
A quick research has turned up the opinion that Latinos are not necessarily “people of colour” and a lot depends on context. We are not in the United States where being Hispanic is regarded as a racial category.
It would depend also whether SMF feels she is a POC.
MarcG 11:49 on 2026-06-15 Permalink
It always takes me a few seconds to process “Non-Hispanic Whites” when I see it as an ethnic identity choice on a form.
jeather 14:18 on 2026-06-15 Permalink
FWIW she called herself racialized. I do not know what this means about her experiences here.
Roberto C. 14:21 on 2026-06-15 Permalink
POC was never a label that immigrant communities identified with growing up. We were not white, it was obvious. We spoke Spanish and lived in working-class neighborhoods with other non-white immigrants. I grew up in the same neighborhood as Soraya and my parents knew her (St-Michel bordering Rosemont). Chileans are part of Latin America, and surely identify as non-white.
Kate 14:27 on 2026-06-15 Permalink
Thank you for educating me, Roberto C.
CE 22:04 on 2026-06-15 Permalink
There are definitely Latin Americans who identify as white. What we call Latin America is a massive portion of the world and is extremely diverse.
Ian 17:03 on 2026-06-16 Permalink
Regardless, SMF calls herself racialized. POC is a relatively new term, but as Roberto points out, “not white” is the part that matters here.