Attorneys for the Metropolis of Montreal requested the Court docket of Enchantment on Tuesday to overturn a landmark class-action ruling on racial profiling by police, saying it’s too difficult to find out how a lot every member is eligible to obtain.
The town is interesting a 2024 Superior Court docket ruling that decided Montreal police had a systemic racial profiling downside. Racialized residents had alleged they had been unfairly stopped, arrested, detained, and profiled by police between mid-August 2017 and January 2019.
Superior Court docket Justice Dominique Poulin held town chargeable for violating class-action members’ Constitution rights, ordering town to pay every of them as much as $5,000 in damages.
On Tuesday, Raphaël Lescop, a lawyer representing town, advised a panel of Court docket of Enchantment justices that Poulin mustn’t have ordered damages to an unspecified variety of victims, when the trial decide heard testimony from just one member of the category motion: lead plaintiff Alexandre Lamontagne.
Lamontagne is a Black man who was stopped by Montreal police whereas leaving an Outdated Montreal bar in August 2017. Throughout his arrest he was pinned to the bottom, handcuffed and brought to the station. He was then issued three statements of offence and charged with obstructing police work and assaulting a police officer, however most proceedings towards him had been finally dropped.
Get every day Nationwide information
Get every day Canada information delivered to your inbox so you will by no means miss the day’s high tales.
Lescop mentioned the trial decide’s choice was based mostly on inadequate proof as a result of it relied on one witness and on statistics from the police division.
“Are we saying all racialized people who find themselves stopped by police are victims of racial profiling that needs to be compensated?” Lescop requested the three Court docket of Enchantment judges.
Justice Christian Immer pushed again, saying Poulin had imposed a ceiling on the quantity that may be claimed in compensation. Immer additionally questioned whether or not Lescop was arguing that each one those that could possibly be eligible must come plead their instances individually, which he mentioned goes towards the spirit of the category motion.
Attorneys for the Black Coalition of Quebec, which had introduced the category motion, mentioned Lescop was implicitly asking for a retrial. They mentioned Poulin’s judgment already covers town’s considerations. Mike Diomande, one of many two attorneys representing the Coalition, urged the court docket to give attention to whether or not Poulin made authorized errors in her ruling.
Diomande mentioned the Superior Court docket decide laid out clear standards for individuals who could possibly be eligible for compensation: people who had been stopped, arrested or detained with out justification and who had their private info recorded by police.
© 2026 The Canadian Press