Police Ethics Committee confirms racial profiling in Terrebonne police

Quebec’s Police Ethics Committee has ruled an English-speaking Black man from Mascouche was racially profiled by a Terrebonne police officer in 2019.

Jonathan Woodley, a business owner and father of two, was stopped by police because the vehicle he was driving, an Acura sedan, was registered to a woman.

Woodley alleges he had been stopped by police several times because of this. He recorded his interaction with Terrebonne police in July 2019.

“The officer Girard from the Terrebonne Police was coming in the opposite direction, so he glanced over at me and continued on his route on the opposite side of the direction. He drove for about 200 metres, when I looked through my rearview mirror, I saw him pulling a U-turn,” Woodley told CityNews in 2022.

“At this moment, I had called my wife, as I typically do when I’m about to get pulled over by police just to let her know that I’m about to get stopped.”

• READ MORE: ‘Driving While Black’: Mascouche resident taking Terrebonne Police to Quebec Human Rights Tribunal

Woodley claims during the traffic stop one of the officers approached the passenger side of the vehicle and checked the vehicle.

Both officers were later confirmed to be Gabrielle Charbonneau-Laplante and Jean-Philippe Girard.

During the traffic stop, officer Girard said “I’m not racist” and threw Woodley’s driver’s licence through the window.

Following the incident, the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) filed multiple complaints on behalf of Woodley with the Quebec Police Ethics Commissioner and with the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission.

In reviewing the incident, the Police Ethics Committee “ruled that based on video evidence, Girard decided to quickly make the U-turn to tail Woodley’s car right after making the first visual contact when both cars were driving in the opposite direction and before checking Woodley’s license plate,” read a transcript from the Police Ethics Committee.

Judge Lysanne Cree said “There was no reason, for Officer Girard to immediately want to check the license plate of a car that … was going in the opposite direction. The only information he had at the moment is the fact that it is a Black man at the wheel of a luxurious car.”

In addition, the Committee also “ruled that Girard illegally detained Woodley by relying on an oblique reason.”

Finally, it was determined that officer Girard committed a breach of duty, after he failed to provide Woodley with his name and badge number, despite numerous requests.

This is the first time the Police Ethics Committee has confirmed an instance of racial profiling in Terrebonne police. The case is now before the Human Rights Tribunal.

Terrebonne police tell CityNews they wont comment, as the case is still open at the human rights commission and tribunal.

“It can bolster his chance of winning the same case that he has before the human Rights Tribunal. In that instance, the Quebec Human Rights Commission last year acid the city of Terrebonne, and the two police officers involved in the July 19 incident to pay $13,000 in damages because of racial profiling,” said Fo Niemi, Executive Director of CRARR.

A few of the eight other similar cases involving Terrebonne police are expected to be heard this fall.

“It’s going to be in it for the long haul for the police department. So it’s very, very important that other black drivers who have been stopped or who are being stopped in Terrebonne basically take a stand and take action.”

-With files from Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews