Quebec police racial profiling case has dragged on for nearly 10 years
CBC
When Emmanuel Abraham filed a racial profiling complaint against a Terrebonne, Que., police officer nearly a decade ago, he never thought he'd still be waiting to see if the officer would be punished.
"For me to wait 10 years — that's just beyond crazy, you know?" said Abraham.
Few cases of racial profiling make it to Quebec's police ethics tribunal. And for those, like Abraham's, that do, critics say the lengthy, complex process discourages complaints from being made in the first place.
In December 2014, Abraham, who is Black, was driving in the Montreal suburb of Terrebonne when he was pulled over by a police officer who asked him what he was doing there.
The officer, Const. Stéphanie Lemay-Terriault, told him she'd checked his licence plate, which showed the owner lived in Montréal-Nord.
Abraham, who was 18 at the time, explained that his father lived in Terrebonne and he was returning to his mother's house in Montreal. He provided proof of insurance and his registration, but Lemay-Terriault gave him a ticket because she said the registration was crumpled and illegible.
"I made my stop right, I didn't speed, I talked to her nicely," said Abraham. "I called my father right away and we said, 'Ah non, not this time."'
Abraham successfully contested the ticket and made a complaint with Quebec's police ethics commissioner. He felt he'd been stopped because he is Black.
In 2020, the police ethics tribunal, known in French as the Tribunal administratif de déontologie policière, ruled the traffic stop was justified and did not believe it was racially motivated.
As far as Abraham knew, that's where his case ended.
He had no idea the tribunal's decision was still making its way through various appeals until CBC News contacted him.
Abraham can't believe he was not kept up-to-date about his own complaint.
"They have my address, they have my email, they have my name. They have everything on me," said Abraham. "They can send me a paper every time she appeals. I didn't get nothing."
It's not unusual for cases to take years to go through the complaint process.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.
A memorial to remember lives lost to gender-based violence was held in Charlottetown Friday, ahead of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, which is marked annually on Dec. 6.
A Calgary dentist who defrauded five insurance companies over a decade should spend up to three years in prison, the prosecution argued Friday.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it has called off its search for a bear responsible for an attack on a group of school children in Bella Coola, B.C. on Nov. 20.