By Canadian Press

Montreal police promise action after report finds systemic bias against minorities

Oct 7, 2019 | 12:23 PM

Montreal police say they’ll take action after a devastating report found that “systemic bias” within the force is leading to racialized people being stopped more often than whites.

The independent report by three academics shows that certain groups are more likely to be stopped by police, with Indigenous women 11 times more likely to be questioned than white females.

Overall, black and Indigenous Montrealers are between four and five times more likely to be subjected to so-called street checks.

People of Arab descent are twice as likely to be stopped — and younger Arabs between 15 and 24 years of age are four times more likely — than their white counterparts.

The numbers came as a surprise to Montreal police chief Sylvain Caron, a former Quebec provincial police officer who has been in the post for less than a year and says he’s very concerned by the findings.

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Researchers crunched three years of data from 2014-17 to compile the report, which was mandated by the previous administration.

They wrote that while the situation can’t conclusively be described as racial profiling, systemic bias linked to race is present in police interventions.

Caron says he can’t explain why there’s no formal policy regarding street checks but committed to bringing in new protocols to end the practice by early next year.

This report for The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2019

The Canadian Press