Content warning: Police violence, racism On Nov. 26, bystander video footage surfaced documenting two cases of police brutality against Black youth in Quebec. Pacifique Niyokwizera, an 18-year-old Black man, was waiting outside of a nightclub when five police officers brutalized him. In the same video, the same officers are seen[Read More…]
Tag: police
Three verdicts, one unjust reality
Content warning: racism, police violence In the past several days, three high-profile cases have come to deeply unsatisfying conclusions. Two are American—Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse was cleared of all charges after he killed two men during a night of unrest following the shooting of Jacob Blake, and the three white[Read More…]
Law enforcement and community experts call for dialogue on systemic discrimination
To promote a better understanding of systemic discrimination and how to combat it, the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) and the Criminal Law Group of McGill co-hosted a panel discussion on Feb. 11 titled “Systemic Discrimination: Challenges for Policing in An Age of Diversity and Heightened Public Scrutiny.”[Read More…]
McGill Social work student alleges racial profiling by police
As Jean Kagame, U3 Social Work, drove to Toronto with two friends on Nov. 21, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) pulled him over and charged him with stunt driving at over 170 km/hour. Kagame maintains that he did not exceed 120 km/hour and alleges that he was racially profiled by the[Read More…]
Black Students’ Network holds panel on racial profiling and how to combat it
Writers and activists Desmond Cole, Robyn Maynard, and Andrea Ritchie visited McGill on Nov. 8 for a panel discussion on the nature of racial profiling and police violence, hosted by the Black Students’ Network (BSN). In conversation with McGill Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies Professor Rachel Zellars, they discussed the history of[Read More…]
Journalists and legal experts discuss the state of free press in Quebec
On Nov. 10, the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) hosted four experts with media and legal background at the McGill Faculty Club to discuss the aftermath of the Patrick Lagacé case. Montreal police had been collecting metadata—information that indicates the time, date, and location you called someone,[Read More…]
Quebec must uphold freedom of the press
Last week, the Service de Police de la Ville de Montreal (SPVM) revealed they had obtained a warrant to monitor the cell phone of La Presse journalist Patrick Lagacé in order to determine the identity of his sources for an investigation into police fabrication of evidence. Over the last several[Read More…]
The violence of labels in the Baltimore Riots
Before implementing a citywide curfew aimed at alleviating the violence that erupted in Baltimore on April 27, the city’s Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, “It is very clear there is a difference between what we saw over the past week with the peaceful protests […] and the thugs who only want[Read More…]
Hypocrisy in police response damages citizens, democracy
In late August, several Montreal firefighters stormed city hall as the city council was starting its session. They then proceded to toss papers around the hall, throw water at councillors, and move through the halls with such force that Mayor Denis Coderre was ushered by security to various rooms around the[Read More…]
