Montreal police join forces with SQ, SPL and SPAL to crack down on extortion of businesses

Four major police forces in Quebec are teaming up to protect business owners from violence and extortion.

Project UNIS is a partnership between the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and municipal police forces in Montreal (SPVM), Laval (SPL) and Longueuil (SPAL).

“Behind every targeted establishment are entrepreneurs, families, and employees. Their safety remains at the heart of our commitment,” said Benoit Dubé, the SQ’s deputy director general.

The joint initiative aims to support businesses with prevention tools and a coordinated response; encourage businesses to report incidents; strengthen intelligence gathering among the forces; and ensure a consistent police presence.

“As the summer season approaches, we are intensifying our efforts in close collaboration with our police partners,” added Cédric Couture, the deputy director of community policing at the SPVM. “Project UNIS marks a new step. Together, we are reminding business owners that they are not alone and that we are there for them.”

Authorities say business extortion has been increasing across the Montreal are, with cases in the city nearly doubling between 2021 and 2025.

Police say the evolving nature of organized crime is part of the problem.

“What we’re saying: do not pay,” Dubé said. “Because if you start paying once, you’ll pay twice, third.”

He added that even paying one group doesn’t guarantee safety.

“Organized crime is changing. Even though you pay to one part of organized crime, maybe another part will come and ask you also for protection,” Dubé said.

As part of Project UNIS, officers will be visiting businesses across the province in the coming weeks to share information and encourage reporting.

An evolving problem: organized crime hiring minors

For some business owners, extortion is a familiar threat — even if the tactics have shifted.

Jean-Jacques Trudel, owner of Layton Audio in downtown Montreal, recalls being targeted in the 1990s.

“A guy showed up and he said, ‘you need protection,’” Trudel said.

He said the man became increasingly aggressive when he refused.

Trudel said he sent a staff member to the back of the store to call the police. The man was still in the store when officers arrived and arrested him.

“I wasn’t nervous. I said, listen, it is what it is. We’re not going to be your customer, period,” he said.

But looking back, he said the dynamic today may be even more volatile.

“Young people that want to prove themselves. They’re more dangerous than what we used to have back then,” he said, adding financial pressures today may be pushing more people toward organized crime.

Quebec Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafrenière echoed those concerns when speaking to reporters Thursday. He said police are increasingly seeing minors as old as 14 or 15 are recruited into these schemes, often online.

“We see them as possible victims now. They’re vulnerable to getting into it, sometimes because of money, sometimes because they want to be famous,” he said.

Lafrenière said Quebec has asked the federal government to increase penalties for those who recruit minors into criminal activity.

“They said they were completely open to that and working on it now, reopening the Criminal Code,” he said.

Small business targeted with Molotov cocktails, cash threats

The Association Restauration Québec said many restaurant owners have been dealing with intimidation for years.

“We have seen in the last few months that many establishments have received Molotov cocktails,” said Martin Vézina, the group’s vice-president of business and governmental affairs.

He added that extortion demands are not always limited to cash.

“We also heard some groups that are saying that we will provide you ‘security guards’ that you will pay,” Vézina said.

Authorities are urging business owners not to give in to demands, warning it can make them bigger targets.

“Even if you think by paying that you’ll be safe, that’s not going to happen,” Lafrenière said.