Grenadian-Montrealers demand answers after police crash outdoor fundraiser
CBC
Members of Montreal's Grenadian community are demanding answers from the city after a family-friendly, outdoor barbecue was interrupted by about 15 officers from local, provincial and federal police.
The event, held last month on Fête Nationale outside a restaurant in the city's Lachine borough, served to raise funds for the Spice Island Cultural Festival.
The officers from Montreal police, provincial police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) showed up at around 8:30 p.m., according to Gemma Raeburn-Baynes, the vice-president of the Spice Island Cultural Day Association of Quebec.
"It was a shock," she said, while pointing out that there were several children and elderly people present. "It was like a swarm of bees coming. There were so many of them."
Raeburn-Baynes said she can't understand why such a heavy police presence — which included officers from the specialized street gang unit, Eclipse — was necessary. She says officers told them they were there because of a noise complaint.
Raeburn-Baynes and others who were there don't buy it and say this was a classic case of racial profiling.
"So, you bring the RCMP for noise?" she said. "If there was a noise, I can see [you] sending one car with two police officers, check it out, tell us to turn down the music and go on your way."
When asked about the police response on June 24, a spokesperson for Montreal police mentioned CENTAURE, the provincewide police operation meant to tackle gun trafficking and gun violence.
"In light of the CENTAURE strategy, police officers from the Eclipse unit, accompanied by partners with the Sûreté du Québec and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police conduct sporadic visits in different bars and and restaurants in the city," the spokesperson said, adding that they are meant to gather information and increase police visibility and the population's sense of security.
The police spokesperson added that after speaking with the organizer about the noise, the officers left without handing out any ticket or statement of offence.
CBC News later asked if there was any reason to believe the gathering had anything to do with gun violence or gun trafficking. The spokesperson did not directly answer the question but said that given the number of people present at the event, the local police station asked for backup before intervening, and that assistance can come from any group of officers.
"I had to explain to my nephew and my son, 'no, you will not get shot or Tasered' because, you know, the police come and they always have their hand [on their weapon]," said Tracy Veilleux, the festival's artistic director, who is married to a man of Grenadian descent.
"That day, they were not serving and protecting. They were scaring people."
A spokesperson for Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said the city is dedicated to fighting racial profiling, is following the file closely and will ask Montreal police to meet with organizers.
A Saskatoon judge has now heard about the hours just before and after Taya Sinclair's death.
Two people were taken to hospital after a fire tore through a unit in an apartment building just west of downtown Edmonton Wednesday evening.
B.C. Premier David Eby, who is on a trade mission to India, says that finding new trade partners is critical to ensure British Columbians' standard of living doesn't deteriorate amid the U.S. trade war.
A program aimed at preventing homelessness on Prince Edward Island that was halted last year due to funding issues is back up and running again with support from the provincial and federal governments.
Large crowds of people lined up around the block outside a pair of packed community halls in central Alberta on Wednesday night, to attend town halls focused on the idea of the province seeking independence from Canada.
The sight of a cyclist in January in the Yukon can prompt confusion from some onlookers — but historians say bicycles were being used to get around the territory in winter long before cars.
On Prime Minister Mark Carney's first day of talks in Beijing, the government agreed to co-operate with China more on clean and conventional energy after years of difficult relations between the two countries.
The city says it is one step away from returning the Bearspaw feeder main to full service, with a final water pump scheduled to be turned on Friday morning — if the pipe continues to remain stable.
When David St-Pierre saw the snow outside his window in Brossard, Que., south of Montreal, he decided to chance the metropolitan region's shiny light-rail transit system once more.
A Calgary lawyer who falsified court documents and repeatedly lied to a client, causing the man to miss out on parenting time with his youngest child, pleaded guilty to forgery on Thursday.
The Crown has stayed an assault charge against Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Jeremy Tunraluk.
Alberta’s minister of hospitals says a province-wide strategy has begun to ease the strain on the acute care system as frontline doctors continue to declare that provincial hospitals are dangerously overcrowded.
As snow squalls continue to blanket southwestern Ontario, school boards in the London region announced the closure of all schools Thursday morning, and police are reporting closures and collisions across the area roads.