The Supreme Court of Canada is hearing arguments today on a Quebec case that could have far-reaching implications on policing across Canada.
Quebec’s attorney general is set to argue against a lower court decision that invalidated random police traffic stops, finding that they led to racial profiling and violated Quebecers’ rights.
Joseph-Christopher Luamba, the young man at the origin of this case, was pulled over by police nearly a dozen times without reason in the 18 months after he got his driver’s licence.
He told Quebec Superior Court in 2022 that when he sees a police cruiser, he gets ready to pull over.
Luamba, who is Black, said he believes he was racially profiled during the traffic stops — none of which resulted in a ticket.
“I was frustrated,” he told the court back then. “Why was I stopped? I followed the rules. I didn’t commit any infractions.”
How about they find a reason to harass people first?
My dad (white guy in very white city) was getting pulled over constantly because he was coming home from work (projectionist at a movie theatre) at 1AM all the time. Same guy every time. After about the dozenth time he drove to the detachment in the morning and had a discussion with the sergeant and that shit ended.
They just like being dickheads.
I watched an Irish show and the plate reader randomly chooses a car to pull over and they were required to search the car. Something left over from the civil war they were having I think. But the random being computer and not officer made sense.