Man in need of psychiatric help subjected to insults and detention, anti-racism group alleges
Posted August 1, 2023 5:36 pm.
Last Updated August 1, 2023 7:01 pm.
A Quebec mother is alleging discrimination and Islamophobia against her son, while he was detained for five months in Quebec City and Rimouski, over 500 kilometres north of Montreal.
She, alongside anti-racism advocacy group Red Coalition, is denouncing the alleged systemic racism they say exists in Quebec’s criminal detention centres.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions, says her adult son was subjected to an unjustified arrest and incarceration in detention facilities from February 4, 2023, to July 30, 2023.
“I feel happy that my son is released, but in the same time very hurt that we went through this situation,” she said.
Last February, the young man was taken by ambulance to the emergency room for psychological treatment. But a lack of beds in the psychiatric emergency room led to his early release.
The same day he was released from the hospital, a passenger using the Quebec City transit system, noticed his erratic behavior and called 911.
Instead of providing the care he needed, the Red Coalition alleges that Quebec City police officers took the young man into custody at the Établissement de détention de Québec.
Quebec City police tell CityNews they don’t comment on police interventions, adding the detention centres of Quebec are independent of the police force.
Alleged systemic racism in Quebec detention centres. (Credit: Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews image)
While detained, the woman alleges her Muslim son faced insults when he was praying, had coffee thrown at him, had his prayer mat dirtied and more.
“We need to be very, very pure, you know, clean when we do our prayer and also our mats have to be clean,” she said. “Who did that? No one can go into the cell where he was except someone who works there.”
“When you say that you are Muslim, you don’t eat ham and they bring you ham, that’s disrespect,” she added. “And they really gave him a hard time because he wanted to fast during Ramadan.”
He was allegedly often kept in isolation 22 to 23 hours a day for a period beyond 15 consecutive days.
They say the mental healthcare he subsequently requested was also refused. During a hearing aimed at identifying a suitable therapy as part of his bail released, they allege the young man was instead encouraged to plead guilty.
“He was subjected to five months, what we call dead time at two detention centers and the failure of him being provided with the adequate mental health care is of concern to the family,” said Alain Babineau of the Red Coalition. “You can imagine the hell that the mother endured during that five month period, not knowing what’s going to happen to her son, whether she’s going to get a phone call saying that he’s been he’s been killed, which almost happened.”
The mother alleges her son was stabbed in March by another inmate.
“There was also a request from her that an inquiry be done in the stabbing that her son suffered in the prison, there’s still not been an independent inquiry into it, so we’re amplifying that call,” says Laura Doyle-Péan of Collectif 1629. “Also denouncing what we think is a really absurd use of public money where our health system is degrading, people are going there asking for help, not receiving it because there’s not enough room to help everyone and then people end up incarcerated.”
The woman fought throughout her son’s incarceration to denounce the injustice he experienced, as well as the Islamophobic and racist gestures he was allegedly subjected to. She said she herself was the victim of racial harassment by people working in the institutions concerned, including being told that “we’re in Quebec here” by a correctional officer.
Quebec’s public security ministry did not get back to us for a comment.
The Red Coalition is asking the Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission to immediately comply with its request of March 14, 2023, and begin an investigation into racism and discrimination in Quebec’s detention centres.
The demand was first made following the death of Black inmate Nicous D’Andre Spring in the Bordeaux prison detention centre in Montreal in January 2023.
The Commission tells CityNews they don’t comment on specific cases but invite anyone to file a complaint who believes that they have personally been discriminated against.
