Montreal police have launched an investigation into 16 officers who are accused of carrying out 'co-ordinated' racist and hateful acts against Black and Arab people during police stops.

On Friday, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) announced it dismantled a night patrol unit at Station 39 and removed 16 officers from patrol duties amid accusations of racial profiling and discrimination against Black and Arab people during police stops in the borough.

According to a Radio-Canada source, the officers have been accused of collecting pieces of locs, sometimes called dreadlocks, that had been cut from people during police interventions to keep as "trophies." Radio-Canada also reported that tickets were allegedly issued to citizens solely on the basis of their ethnic background.

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[–] PoliteDudeInTheMood@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My family is from Quebec's Eastern Townships, which used to have a much larger English-speaking population. Over the years, most of my relatives moved to Ontario or Nova Scotia, while some stayed in Quebec.

At my grandmother's 95th birthday recently, the conversation somehow turned to immigration. A couple of relatives who own businesses in Quebec started talking about immigrants and even some of their own employees. The level of hostility and prejudice in their comments genuinely shocked me.

That experience left me with the impression that anti-immigrant attitudes are still deeply embedded in parts of Quebec society, even if they aren't always visible in public. So nothing about this situation is surprising to me.

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Always weird to me how ready some minority groups are to become the evil that hurt them. Israel committing a genocide, the ICE dirtbags who killed Pretti being latino, and the Québec government treating immigrants like how the British treated them are all great examples. You’d think experiencing this shit first-hand would have a postive effect, and yet.

Then again, we live in a country that would rather guarantee a conservative leader, red or blue, than even have the chance at a progressive party in power so it’s pretty obvious to me that most Canadians might be “nice” but we sure aren’t kind.

[–] m0darn@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

My family is from Quebec's Eastern Townships, which used to have a much larger English-speaking population...

...But doesn't anymore because of institutionalised cultural superiority.