Random police stops: civil liberties’ group defends ruling in Quebec Court of Appeal

It was called a landmark decision in 2022: Quebec police can no longer conduct traffic stops on motorists without a reason.

And it was considered a win for many in the fight against racial profiling.

Now, that case is back in court as the Attorney General of Quebec filed an appeal. The two-day hearing began Tuesday.

“This is the real question before the court today: should these abusive stops be allowed to continue?” said Lex Gill, a lawyer with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).

The CCLA is defending the Superior Court decision declaring that police roadside stops without cause are unconstitutional.

“The trial judge was right to invalidate the power,” said Gill. “The Constitution doesn’t permit these kinds of abusive police powers and we’re here at the Court of Appeal today asking the Court of Appeal to uphold that judgment.”

The challenge was brought by Joseph-Christopher Luamba, a Black Montrealer who said he had been stopped by police nearly a dozen times without reason. Luamba’s goal was to have the random interception of motorists by police declared unconstitutional.

In October 2022, Luamba and the CCLA won the case, with the judge calling the practice a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“This police power currently permits arbitrary unjustified stops,” Gill said. “We know that those stops disproportionately target racialized young men, particularly Black young men.”

The province’s Attorney General says Quebec acknowledges there’s a racial profiling problem, but says the law is not the issue here.

Joel DeBellefeuille from the Red Coalition, an anti-racism group in Quebec, says the province’s decision to appeal was surprising.

“For the province to fight the usual decision here today is just another clear example of them trying to continue to control the narrative, control random stops on people that lead to the precursor of racial profiling discrimination,” DeBellefeuille said. “So, I think it’s a complete shame that we’re here today.”

It’s not clear when a decision will be made on the matter, but it could take a while.

“The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says that power is illegitimate, it’s unconstitutional, it’s discriminatory, it’s arbitrary, the trial judge was right to invalidate the power,” Gill said.