THE JUDICIARIZATION OF THE HOMELESS IN MONTRÉAL: A CASE OF SOCIAL PROFILING

November 10, 2009 - In an opinion published on November 10, 2009, the Commission urges the city of Montreal to repeal two by-laws that target the homeless. It also calls on the Montreal police (Service de police de la Ville de Montréal) to change its institutional standards and policies that have a discriminatory impact on street people.

Providing examples and statistics, the Commission’s opinion concludes that the social profiling of Montréal’s homeless is discriminatory and contravenes the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Moreover, in the view of the Commission, the excessive use of the courts to deal with the homeless is the result of targeted police practices aimed at removing them from the public space, rather than a neutral and impartial enforcement of the law.

The Commission makes 14 recommendations to different levels of government and to the Montréal police, and outlines detailed proposals for a policy on homelessness.

	Documents The opinion of the Commission (1.2 Mb) [In French only] Executive summary of the opinion of the Commission (41 Kb) Recommendations of the Commission (20 Kb) News release (20 Kb)		Fact sheets Fact sheet 1: Social profiling - Definition (16 Kb) Fact sheet 2: Disproportionate use of authority - Definition (16 Kb) Fact sheet 3: Infringement of rights - Definition (16 Kb) Fact sheet 4: Overview of the over-judiciarization of the homeless in Montréal - Statistics (41 Kb) Fact sheet 5: Analysis of the municipal by-laws applicable on the territory of Montréal (20 Kb)