Montreal police arrest disproportionately high number of blacks: race hearings

MONTREAL – A study suggests young blacks were more than twice as likely to be arrested in Montreal as white teenagers.

The study was presented on the opening day of hearings into racial profiling in Quebec.

Universite de Montreal professor Christopher McAll said his study suggested police paid a disproportionate amount of attention to black teenagers.

The study showed that, in 2001, black teens were 2.24 times more likely to be arrested than whites of the same age.

“(There’s a) phenomenon of over-surveillance of young blacks in Montreal in relation to young whites,” McAll told reporters following his testimony.

He cited drug arrests as an example of how different groups received different treatment.

According to McAll, a black teen risked prosecution if caught smoking marijuana, whereas his study could not find a single case of a white teen being prosecuted for the same reason.

He suggested his findings provided statistical evidence that systemic profiling exists.

“The law is not being applied in an equitable fashion and the police are, in effect, acting illegally,” he said.

“The question is who is going to police the police.”

Several other Canadian cities _ notably Toronto _ have been forced to deal with claims that police discriminate against minorities.

Quebec’s human rights commission launched the hearings amid concerns racial profiling had become endemic in the province.

It has received some 100 complaints on the matter since 2005.

The hearings will continue throughout the month in Montreal, and next month in Quebec City.

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