Montreal legal clinic combats racial profiling through comedy

For Black History Month, the Saint-Michel Legal Clinic is organizing a benefit comedy show at Montreal’s Olympia theatre on February 24, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.The show, titled The Comedy Profile, will welcome comedians Eddy King, Douaa Kachache, Garihanna Jean-Louis and Richardson Zéphir. 

“Everyone can relate to a good laugh. And we think it’s a good way for us to be together and actually raise money for the cause,” says legal clinic director and lawyer, Fernando Belton.

Tickets sold will directly finance the mission of the legal clinic, which works against racial profiling through various awareness projects in Quebec.

“I want people to actually have more information about that issue, to understand that even if we’ve been talking about that issue for the last 40 years, it’s still something that a lot of our communities have to live with,” says Belton.

Each day for the month of February leading up to the show, the clinic is sharing testimonials from within the Black community. 

“A lot of people that came and gave their testimony are related to interactions they had with police officers,” Belton told CityNews.

According to Statistics Canada, members of the Black community are 15 times more likely to experience discrimination than non-visible minorities.

In Saint-Michel Legal Clinic practice, Belton says, “even if a police officer has the right to arrest or detain someone, we’re still going to be looking at if that person has been treated right.”

As a universal language of sorts, the clinic director hopes The Comedy Profile will help bring people together.

“Even if someone is not really touched by the campaign or by the subject of racial profiling, just come.”

Show tickets are available at ticketmaster.ca.