![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/LZEPM6JN6NHWVO3D4VXEJUW2XQ.JPG\")
Madwa-Nika Cadet Quebec Liberal MNA Madwa-Nika Cadet responds to reporters questions as she enters the Quebec Liberal general council meeting, Saturday, October 14, 2023 in Drummondville Que. (Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press) <\/p>\n
Police said two officers were suspended and are being investigated for potential Criminal Code violations, while the rest have been reassigned to tasks that aren\u2019t public facing.<\/p>\n
The revelations spurred a tidal wave of condemnation and calls for action by politicians, community groups and a former senior police officer.<\/p>\n
Montreal North mayor ‘very frustrated’ after racism allegations against 16 police officers Montreal North borough mayor Christine Black is very frustrated, and calls are growing for body cameras after 16 Montreal police cited for racist acts. <\/p>\n
Lafreni\u00e8re, who was previously a Montreal police officer, said the observer would report to him, and ensure the ongoing police probe is being properly carried out. Depending on their conclusions, he said it was also possible that another police force or the province\u2019s police watchdog could be called to investigate. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the investigation doesn\u2019t shed full light on the events, I don\u2019t rule out the possibility of a public inquiry,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada joined with the head of the Official Opposition at City Hall on Monday to call for an independent inquiry into the officers, who were stationed in the Montr\u00e9al-Nord borough. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am at a loss for words regarding the information transmitted by (Montreal police) Friday night,\u201d she said. \u201cNo person in the Black or Arab community should have to feel the way they do today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montreal mayor wants to speed up body camera initiative after police racism allegations Montreal mayor wants to speed up body camera initiative after police racism allegations. <\/p>\n
The Quebec Liberal Party has said Montreal police should not investigate its own officers, and wants Lafreni\u00e8re to ask Quebec provincial police to step in.<\/p>\n
Qu\u00e9bec solidaire, meanwhile, said nearly 800 people had signed a letter calling on Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette to call a \u201cpublic and independent\u201d investigation into profiling and systemic racism by Montreal police.<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9chette told Radio-Canada she isn\u2019t ruling out a public inquiry but wants more information before deciding on the next steps.<\/p>\n
The officers who were suspended or reassigned are from Station 39 in the multicultural borough of Montr\u00e9al-Nord, which has experienced past tension between citizens and police. <\/p>\n
La Presse and Radio-Canada reported that among the allegations are that officers cut the hair of racialized citizens to turn it into \u201ctrophies.\u201d Police Chief Fady Dagher told a news conference that the reports of haircutting were \u201cpart of the allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n
A former high-ranking Montreal police officer, who accused the force of racism in a scathing resignation letter in 2024, said he\u2019s heard in recent days from \u201cemployees, citizens and worried voices,\u201d who remain afraid to speak out against police.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/RWU74BAOQAKL4D2IZDDFLR2X3M.jpg\")
Montreal Police Station 39 is shown in the Montr\u00e9al-Nord borough, on Saturday, June 13, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Graham Hughes Montreal Police Station 39 is shown in the Montr\u00e9al-Nord borough, on Saturday, June 13, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Graham Hughes <\/p>\n
\u201cOthers say they have already spoken and now live with the weight of those words,\u201d wrote Patrice Vilc\u00e9us, a former police commander of Haitian origin who served 30 years on the force.<\/p>\n
Vilc\u00e9us said the current investigation needed to look beyond the actions of a specific group of officers, and to examine the culture at large. <\/p>\n
\u201cAn institution does not grow solely by correcting individual actions; it grows by agreeing to examine its culture, its protective mechanisms, its blind spots, and its capacity to hear dissenting voices,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Spokespersons for two community organizations said Monday that they were outraged by the allegations, but not surprised. <\/p>\n
Sheilla Fortun\u00e9, who runs a youth organization called l\u2019Ouverture, described the alleged police actions as \u201cserious, revolting and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
She told a news conference that organizations in Montreal-Nord have long denounced \u201cdiscriminatory behaviours and practices that have contributed to unjustifiably penalizing a large number of residents, particularly those from the Black and Arab communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slim Hammami, a coordinator with Caf\u00e9-Jeunesse Multiculturel, said the Montr\u00e9al-Nord community groups have made \u201cenormous\u201d efforts to rebuild the community\u2019s relationship with police after 18-year-old teenager Fredy Villanueva was shot to death by a police officer in the borough in 2008, sparking widespread protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believed in dialogue, we still believed in changes that could happen gradually,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd today, we find ourselves with a situation \u2026 I don\u2019t even know how we\u2019ll get out of it.\u201d <\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2026.<\/p>\n
Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quebec\u2019s domestic security minister said Monday that he would appoint an observer to oversee the investigation into allegations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,49418,2338],"class_list":["post-739443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ian-lafreniere","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}