Montreal protest denouncing racial profiling pays tribute to Floyd, Korchinski-Paquet
Posted May 27, 2023 12:46 pm.
Last Updated May 27, 2023 6:32 pm.
A protest denouncing racial profiling in Quebec took place in Montreal Saturday, coinciding with the third anniversary of George Floyd’s death in the United States.
Protesters in Montreal say they were denouncing the racial profiling of Black, Indigenous and racialized people in Quebec. Demonstrators gathered at Place Émilie-Gamelin.
“It’s an opportunity to speak out and to say we aren’t, we won’t continue to endure this,” said Maxim Fortin, a coordinator at the League of Rights and Freedoms. “This is not acceptable. And we’re going to speak out.”
Protest organizers were asking for three things: a recognition of systemic racism by the province, a ban on street checks in public spaces, and for police to cease random traffic stops in accordance with last year’s Quebec Superior Court ruling.
RELATED: Quebec appealing racial profiling ruling banning police traffic stops without cause
“We’re together, we’re united. And we’re making sure that the message will be spread out today,” said Cassandra Exumé, the general coordinator at Hoodstock.
Kymberley Davelmarr at racial profiling protest in Montreal May 27, 2023. (Felisha Adam/CityNews)
Kymberley Davelmarr, who attended the protest, told CityNews racial profiling remains a reality for her and many of her friends.
“They have been harassed in many events with the police and in Repentigny,” she said.
She says it’s worrying the Quebec government continues to ignore the problem.
“It kind of invalidates the sentiment that we feel,” said Davelmarr. “You don’t know how we feel because you’ve never been in our shoes, you can never been in our position.”
In the U.S., Floyd was murdered at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25, 2020, with officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck for nine-and-a-half minutes. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.”
His death was followed by fervent protests in the U.S., Canada and around the world, with many hoping they would lead to a reckoning on racism in policing.
“It’s very important to not forget what happened three years ago,” said Davelmarr. “We have to still remember it every day.”
Saturday is also the three-year anniversary of the death of Régis Korchinski-Paquet, the 29-year-old woman who fell from a Toronto balcony during a police intervention. Ontario’s police watchdog later found there were no grounds to charge any of the officers involved.
Organizers of Saturday’s rally in Montreal paid tribute to Korchinski-Paquet.
“There are so many people who should never have died,” said Exumé. “There are so many young Black people, a Black woman, young Black men who could have been somewhere else – adult professionals, people who are in school – and unfortunately they have been killed. Being Black is a crime for many people.”
