Stop and Frisk: Are traffic stops on the James Bay Highway racially motivated?
It’s not uncommon to see people driving fast on the James Bay Highway, so neither is it surprising to see the police out in force hunting speeders. However, a rash of new public complaints about the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) suggests that the police might be doing more than just pulling people over for driving unsafely.
Facebook recently lit up with complaints about SQ stops between Amos and Matagami. In response to requests for such stories, the Nation received a number of accounts of what drivers considered unfair or unreasonable stops, ranging from the SQ stopping those who were simply overtaking slower cars to making apparently random stops.
Shirley Blackned reported being stopped “for a random check” north of Matagami with her three-year-old grandson in his booster seat. She said that because her grandson had pushed his seatbelt from his shoulder down to his waist, she was given a ticket for travelling with a minor wearing a seatbelt improperly.
Meanwhile, Ruth Stewart of Chisasibi reported that she was stopped while driving the speed limit, but that SQ officers told her that they’d stopped her because “our truck was old.”
Eastmain’s Steven Tremblay also says he was pulled over without apparent reason and asked to produce his license, registration and insurance. “Then the officer began questioning my wife, who doesn’t drive, why she had no permit to drive. He continually asked her to repeat her answers.”
Chisasibi’s Ricky Angatookaluk was stopped while overtaking a car driving 20 km/h below the speed limit. Angatookaluk said he tried to open the door to his car, but the SQ officer “just turned red and un-click[ed] his gun holster like he was ready to grab his gun. [I] felt that he stopped me because my truck was kinda rez and that I looked Indian.”
An anonymous driver from a coastal community contacted the Nation to say that, on two occasions, he or his wife was stopped while driving below the speed limit and given speeding tickets for driving 130 km/h and 140km/h. “I don’t know if the radar was malfunctioning or something,” said the driver. “One of my brothers had the same experience.”
The anonymous driver also reported being stopped while driving 80 km/h. Like many other drivers reporting unusual traffic stops by the Sureté du Québec, he was driving a pickup truck with a load of goods from the south lashed down in the bed with ropes. He thinks this identified him as a Cree travelling home. After being pulled over, the driver waited while the police inspected the cargo in the back of his truck.
“My wife opened her window and I asked [the SQ officer] why he stopped us. He said, ‘We didn’t stop you for speeding. Your wife wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.’ It was six in the evening – how could he tell? And my wife was wearing a belt. I think they were trying to find a reason to give us a ticket.”
More surprisingly, the anonymous driver reported that the police then searched the vehicle without giving any reason for doing so.
“We had tubes of wrapping paper in a garbage bag under the seat. They pulled it out and were looking at it. We couldn’t say anything: the law is on their side.”
Others argue that the stops have nothing to do with race.
“Almost everyone is [stopped], I think,” said Lorna Spencer. “But it’s more of a formality as soon as they realize we are not caribou hunters from the south. They have to be inspected and made sure they have stored the firearms properly.”
Daniel Caron added that he didn’t believe the SQ stops were profiling. “As a white person, I got stopped for no reason. They checked my firearm license and my car for any modifications, and past the 15 they will stop random people to check if they are using winter tires.”
Gilles Corriveau, Deputy Director for the SQ’s Abitibi office, said that section 6.36 of the Quebec Highway Safety Code (QHSC) gives police the right to stop any driver at any time to make certain that his license, registration and insurance are valid, and that the driver is in an acceptable state to drive safely. As well, the state of the vehicle falls under the QHSC.
“The vehicle falls under the power of the Highway Safety Code,” Corriveau said. “We can verify the state of the vehicle: the lights, the breaking system. We can even verify whether the driver has an emergency route, or whether the hand brake is working. Many little things like that.”
Importantly, Corriveau added that officers can stop trucks carrying loads of cargo to verify that the netting used to hold the loads into truck beds is “made of the right material, properly attached, and tight enough.”
“However,” Corriveau added, “this does not give me the right to search the glove compartment or your luggage, unless I have a real reason to do that.” And he added that officers should inform drivers of the reasons why they are being stopped.
Corriveau said he does not believe that the controversial stops have been in any way racially motivated.
“I can’t speak for all police officers, but for my group I can tell you that Aboriginals are a part of our lives,” he said. “There are many Aboriginal reserves – here in Amos, and around Val d’Or. There are Crees who come down here to do their shopping. They’re part of the population. Maybe there are some who feel that they’re being looked at, and feel that they’re victims of racism. But in reality, a police officer can’t investigate someone because of his race, but rather because of the examples that I gave above.”
Nonetheless, Corriveau says he wants the public to be able to trust the SQ.
“If a police officer does not answer adequately or didn’t behave adequately [during a traffic stop] according to our directives and ethics policy, than you can make a complaint against him. You can go to the superior of that officer. We want to be professional at all times, and to always act in that manner.”