City of Montreal Holds Council Meeting on Hate Incidents and Crimes

(Note: Video is in French.)

Following last month's council meeting on the same subject, the City of Montreal held a second council meeting on public and urban security.

During the meeting, employees and specialists of the Société de la Police de la Ville de Montreal presented a report on the process of a complaint of incidents and hate crimes, and how it is a procedure that requires multiple steps, rather than being a simple investigation.

They discussed how before a team was instilled in 2015, the SPVM did not investigate, index or file hate crimes and incidents, unless further information would be needed for specific cases. Hate crimes and incidents, prior to 2015, were not more prioritized than other type of crimes and incidents, and were handled according to what was prioritize in the moment.

After the team, which consists of six individuals, was created in 2015, global analysis and research were conducted, and current trends were studied to determine how to approach the issue of public security in the context of hate crimes and incidents.

The SPVM said its goals were to focus on interventions and to reestablish promptly the sentiment of safety of Montrealers, as well as to intervene adequately with the involved perpetuators by raising awareness regarding the consequences of their actions.

Between 2017 and 2022, the SPVM said it generally recorded between 200 and 250 hate crimes, and 50-150 hate incidents.

To counter the hate crimes and incidents trends, they intend to work on prevention, by going in primary and high schools, as well as holding conferences and using social medias. They also intend on working with groups of different communities, have training for staff, as well as working with other police stations. 

During the council meeting, citizens were also invited to share their concerns and questions. 

Individuals asked for the SPVM to address its inaction towards hate crimes done in their own systems and by their own employees. They were also asked to address why they never provided information on the most targeted racialized communities, despite being asked by organizations such as the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations.