Quebec's population is changing, but the makeup of the province's police forces is not, data shows
CBC
In Repentigny, a suburban community east of Montreal, it's rare to see a person of colour in a police uniform. In fact, there are only two.
Pierre Richard Thomas, a local advocate, said Black residents often feel like they aren't treated equally.
"For an adult or a young teen, seeing a police officer is worrying. It's frustrating," said Thomas, a spokesperson for Lakay Média, a Haitian community organization.
The situation in Repentigny is among the most extreme examples of the gap in representation between Quebec police and the general population, an analysis by CBC News shows.
Only two per cent of the police service in Repentigny identifies as a visible minority, and none as Indigenous, compared with 12 per cent of the general population.
CBC requested the latest figures on staffing from 12 police services across the province and compared them to the latest census data from 2016 for the areas they serve.
The results show police officers across the province remain overwhelmingly white, even as visible minorities (the term used by Statistics Canada and police to describe people of colour) account for a growing percentage of those living in Montreal and municipalities farther afield.
The fast-expanding suburbs outside the city, in particular, are becoming more racially diverse.
But the police services remain mostly white, even though recruiting officers from a wider variety of backgrounds is a stated goal of the provincial government.
The chart below illustrates the divide between police services and the populations they serve, with the RCMP's Quebec division coming closest to being representative of the population.
The issue of racial inequity in policing was thrust to the forefront again this week, after a video captured Quebec City police officers dragging, hitting and pinning down Black youths in the snow.
Five officers were suspended in connection with the incident. The Quebec City police service, which has come under scrutiny in the past for a lack of diversity and allegations of racial profiling, is investigating.
Quebec City police did not provide up-to-date statistics this week, but as of June 2020, it had no Black officers out of a total of 853. According to the most recent census figures, there were more than 12,300 Black residents in Quebec City, accounting for 2.4 per cent of the city's population.
Findings from CBC's analysis include: