Montreal mayor calls for end to random police stops amid race bias probe

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has called for an end to random police stops, as the city's police force faces an internal investigation into racism and racial profiling involving 16 officers.

Speaking to the press last week, Mayor Martinez Ferrada revealed that her husband, a Black man, has been stopped by police multiple times while driving. 'Like many Black people in the city and people from ethnic groups, this happens too often,' she said. She stated these checks have occurred at least five times in the past year for 'no reason at all.'

The revelations follow a late-night news conference by the city's police chief, who announced that over a dozen officers have been reassigned or transferred as investigators examine allegations that the officers—most young men with fewer than five years of service—targeted Black and Arab people disproportionately. Two other officers have been suspended, and two cases have been referred to Quebec's criminal and penal prosecuting office to determine whether criminal charges should be filed.

'I'm extremely surprised. I didn't think this could happen in 2026. That's how deep my hurt is,' Police Chief Fady Dagher said, describing the officers as 'tarnishing our uniform.' The officers are accused of cutting people's dreadlocks during traffic stops and issuing tickets based solely on their ethnicity.

New Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette called the officers' alleged conduct 'unacceptable.' But, like her predecessor, Fréchette rejected the idea that the behavior reflects the existence of systemic racism. 'For me, it's just a small group behind these organized, repeated actions,' she said of the 16 officers under investigation. 'This is not systemic racism. If it's a small group, it isn't necessarily systemic. For me, systemic means on a larger scale.'

However, allegations of racial profiling and systemic racism within police forces are not new to the province. In 2024, a Quebec judge awarded damages in a class action filed by residents who were racially profiled and arrested by Montreal police without good reason. The judge also compensated 'people who were racially profiled physically' whose rights were violated by police but whose evidence was not recorded.

In his ruling, the judge concluded that members of ethnic groups were overrepresented in police stops and 'the only reasonable explanation for this disparity is racial profiling that characterizes many arrests.'

And in 2021, a Quebec coroner concluded that an Indigenous woman mocked by health workers as she lay dying in a Quebec hospital would likely be alive today if she were white, calling her treatment an 'undeniable' example of systemic racism.

The Montreal mayor said a moratorium on random checks would be a good 'first step' toward healing relationships with people affected by police conduct. 'I think it's also a way to rebuild trust with the population and that's something I think the police should consider,' Martinez Ferrada said, adding that body cameras are crucial to preventing future incidents. 'This won't solve the problem. It's just one tool in our toolbox, but it won't fix the whole issue.'