Tribunal orders Terrebonne police to track race data in racial profiling ruling

A tribunal has ordered the Terrebonne police service to provide training to stop racial profiling and to pay thousands of dollars to a victim.

The Quebec Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that two Terrebonne police (SPVT) officers racially profiled a Black man during a 2020 traffic stop, awarding him thousands of dollars in punitive damages and ordering the police force to begin collecting and publishing race-based data.

In its May 5 decision, the tribunal found that SPVT officers Christopher Le Brasseur and Félix Freire used their authority to justify an arbitrary stop based on racial bias retroactively.

On the evening of Dec. 8, 2020, Ted Michel was driving his partner’s vehicle on Montée des Pionniers in Terrebonne when the officers pulled him over, saying they were conducting checks for seatbelt and cellphone use.

Although Michel was wearing his seatbelt and not on his phone, they ran his licence plate, verified his identity, contacted his employer, and issued four tickets — including one for obstructing a peace officer — totaling more than $1,000.

“In doing so, the police officers compromised Mr. Michel’s right to equality in the recognition and exercise of the following rights: the right to the protection of his dignity, the right to personal liberty — since a discretionary traffic stop constitutes arbitrary detention — and the right to receive public services without discrimination, all in violation of the Charter, a quasi-constitutional law that takes precedence over the Highway Safety Code," the tribunal said in its decision.

Michel’s lawyer, Maya Charette-Côté, told CTV News that her client is pleased with the ruling.

“We obviously hope that this will have an impact on police work and on the measures taken by the city for the future,” she said.

The officers argued that Michel’s race played no role in the stop or subsequent actions.

However, the court did not find their testimony credible.

“The court considers that the fact that the driver was a Black man fueled the police officers’ suspicions about him and played, unconsciously or not, a role in their subsequent decisions to intercept Mr. Michel, to carry out several checks on him and to give him the tickets,” it said.

Judge Johanne Gagnon ordered the City of Terrebonne and the police force to pay Michel $12,000, while officers Le Brasseur and Freire were ordered to pay $2,000 and $1,000, respectively.

Gagnon also directed Terrebonne police to provide training by a profiling expert and to begin systematically collecting and publishing anonymous race-based data for all police interceptions.

In a statement, the City of Terrebonne said it has noted the decision and wants to reassure residents that respect and inclusion are central to the police service.

“A series of measures, notably concerning racial profiling, are already well underway,” it said.

Pierre Richard Thomas, director of Lakay — a non-profit that raises awareness about racial profiling — welcomed the ruling.

“This decision validates what racialized communities have been denouncing for years: racial profiling is a systemic reality in Quebec,” Thomas said.

“The case of Mr. Michel — intercepted simply because he looked the police in the eye — is a disturbing demonstration of this. The tribunal recognized that if Mr. Michel had been white, the police would not have stopped him.”

With files from Olivia O’Malley