Racial profiling expert quits role with Montreal police, cites union resistance

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A year after he was hired to tackle racial profiling in the Montreal police force, Alain Babineau has resigned, saying he was "never well received," and citing "a lot of resistance" from the force's management, and the police union.

"Police culture is extremely resistant to change, it doesn't matter what the changes are," said Babineau, a former RCMP officer and police-reform advocate, who also holds a law degree from McGill University.

The resistance to addressing "racism, discrimination and even diversity within law enforcement" was "mostly amongst the police unions that are protecting their turf … and representing the majority of the membership," he told The Current's Matt Galloway.  

The Bureau to Fight Racism and Systemic Discrimination was established by the city in 2020 to advise all city departments, including the police, on how to address issues around race and discrimination. Bochra Manaï was named the bureau's first commissioner in Jan. 2021; and Babineau joined her team the following May, tasked with leading efforts to address racial and social profiling.

Prior to his appointment, Babineau had a 27-year career as an RCMP officer, retiring in 2016 and then pursuing a law degree. From 2018-2021, he worked with the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations, a civil rights group that helps victims of racial profiling.

But his anti-racism bureau appointment and previous advocacy work drew immediate criticism from the Fraternité des policiers et policières de Montréal, or the Police Brotherhood, Montreal's police union.

The force shouldn't be "a testing ground for activists," Brotherhood president Yves Francoeur said in a memo to members on May 5, 2021.

"A minimum appearance of impartiality would have been necessary for this position," Francoeur said. 

Babineau said he wasn't deterred by that initial resistance.

"I thought, 'You know what, reasonable people will find reasonable ways to get along,'" he said.

He believed his skeptics would eventually see he was "not a threat to the organization, but rather an assistant in helping … to effect systemic changes."

"But that didn't materialize," he said.

Babineau has now accepted the role of director of racial profiling and public safety at The Red Coalition, a non-profit working to curb racial profiling and systemic racism in Canada.

'Major red flags'

Babineau said there were "some major red flags from the get go" working with Montreal police.

The role was supposed to come with an office at the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal [SPVM] headquarters, but he said that offer was quickly rescinded.

"It took, you know, nearly two months for me to get a security clearance, even to get into the building of the SPVM here," he said, adding that it took four-and-a-half months to secure a meeting with the chief of police.

He thinks a combination of resistance from the union and the upper management came from fears that he would "pose a threat to the ways of doing things, that have been ongoing for decades in the SPVM." 

I don't believe in piecemeal changes that will take 15 more years to come to fruition, where you don't have time- Alain Babineau

In an emailed statement to The Current, a spokesperson for the SPVM said the organization "has been actively collaborating with the Office of the Commissioner for the Fight against Racism and Systemic Discrimination since its establishment."

Montreal Police "intends to continue its work and reflection on racial and social profiling," so that citizens do not face discrimination, the statement read.

Also in an email to The Current, a spokesperson for the Montreal Police Brotherhood said the union had not objected to the creation of an anti-racism role, but rather the choice of Babineau to fill it. 

The spokesperson pointed to Francoeur's memo to members in May 2021, which stated that the union "supports any reasonable measure intended to eliminate any form of racism or discrimination. There is always room for improvement and together we must all aim to achieve this crucial objective."

Babineau said he did work with some units within the organization, and found them to be open and collaborative. He also had good experiences with organizations that work alongside the police, such as the city's transport security personnel, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).

"There was some good work and willing people to move things forward. But with respect to the police, which really most of the recommendations were targeting, that never occurred," he said.

Fighting racism in 'aggressive fashion'

Babineau thinks police forces should consider several factors in how they address issues around discrimination, including how police recruits are attracted and selected, and how they're then screened, trained and supervised. 

The type of internal policies, such as a zero-tolerance approach with respect to discrimination, are also important, he said.

"I think a combination of all of those things will mitigate the risk of, you know, bad things from happening," he said.

Racism and discrimination have to be addressed in an "aggressive fashion," he said.

"I don't believe in piecemeal changes that will take 15 more years to come to fruition, where you don't have time for that," he said.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

Written by Padraig Moran, with files from CBC Montreal. Produced by Ines Colabrese.