Montreal’s report card on anti-racism efforts panned by critics

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Montreal has made stride toward combatting systemic racism and discrimination but still has a long way to go, especially when it comes to including marginalized English-speaking minorities, critics said Tuesday.

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“This is going to be the major challenge in dealing with systemic racism and discrimination,” said Fo Niemi, executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), after city officials gave an update on anti-discrimination efforts at a public meeting of Montreal’s standing committees on public security and diversity.

“There’s a significant portion of the population that are English speaking, of different racial backgrounds, who basically are saying today that they are not being included, they’ve been left out and left behind, and that’s a major barrier that has to be confronted ,” he said.

Officials from a spectrum of municipal departments and agencies, including the police force, fire department and public transit corporation, reported on measures they’ve taken to combat discrimination and better reflect the city’s diversity.

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The efforts follow a June 2020 report by the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OWHC) that found the city had turned “a blind eye” to systemic racism and discrimination within its bureaucracy and the police force.

It recommended 38 measures to combat racial profiling, boost minority hiring and promotion, facilitate complaints against police, provide anti-racism training to employees and police, reflect diversity in arts and culture and encourage diversity in municipal politics.

It also called for the appointment of a commissioner for anti-racism efforts, tasked with creating and implementing an action plan within one year. In January 2020, Mayor Valérie Plante appointed Bochra Manaï to the post.

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“With the OWHC’s 38 recommendations as a roadmap, the administration is set to work with dedication and determination,” said executive committee chair Dominique Ollivier, a former director of the OWHC who is now responsible for the city’s anti-racism efforts.

Montreal has amended its Charter of Rights and Responsibilities to recognize “the systemic nature of racism and other forms of discrimination that we wish to combat, such as ableism for example,” she said. It has adopted “ambitious targets for hiring and promotion” and adopted the first street checks police for Montreal police, she added.

Ollivier also praised the different municipal political parties for forming the most diverse city council in history.

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The city announced 12 goals for this year, including creating a division responsible for diversity within its human resources department; making it easier for city employees to file complaints; continuing efforts to eliminate racial and social profiling by police; fighting hate crimes; promoting links with Indigenous communities; ensuring more diversity in festivals and cultural events; Overcoming environmental inequalities between neighborhoods and fighting housing discrimination.

But some citizens said they still felt left out of initiatives like a forum on armed violence that met last month and will hold its second session on Thursday.

Sharon Nelson, first vice-president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal, asked “why so many racialized English-speaking communities were excluded.”

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“There is obviously no attempt to exclude anyone,” Manaï responded, adding that she has been making an effort to reach out to “organizations and citizens, including representatives of Montreal’s English-speaking racialized communities.”

But Nelson said her association still has not heard from the city. “There’s a lack of inclusion,” she said.

Even questions asked in English at Tuesday’s meeting were all answered in French, Niemi pointed out. He called on the city to be more inclusive toward English-speaking minorities. The next police chief should also be capable of speaking the language, I added.

Ensemble Montréal councilor Abdelhaq Sari, vice-president of the public security committee and opposition critic on policing, described the administration’s achievements on combatting racism and discrimination as little more than a public relations exercise.

“There’s a lack of concrete action,” he said.

Sari noted that the OWHC report called on Montreal to ask the Quebec government to amend the city’s charter to add two members of the public with expertise on racial profiling and human rights to the nine-member public security committee by October 2021. However, the city has still not made the request, he said.

“It shows the administration’s lack of seriousness,” he said.

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