Recognizing racial profiling by police key to ‘historic’ ruling, Montreal lawyer says

A Montreal lawyer who co-piloted a successful class-action lawsuit against the City of Montreal for racial profiling by police says what’s most important is not the financial compensation but the recognition of prejudice.

Mike Diomande says the decision released Tuesday was “historic” because it establishes that racialized people in the city were victims of profiling and that their Charter rights were violated.

Diomande reacted one day after a Superior Court judge ruled that racial profiling is a “systemic” problem in the Montreal police force and that victims deserve up to $5,000.

The case was brought by the Black Coalition of Quebec, which had been fighting the battle for several years.

The lead plaintiff in the case was Alexandre Lamontagne, a Black man who was stopped by Montreal police while leaving an Old Montreal bar in 2017.

Diomande says his client was pleased that after a seven-year battle, the arrest has been recognized as a case of racial profiling.

He says the ruling could create jurisprudence and an opening for similar class actions in other Canadian cities.