The City of Montreal hosted a municipal council meeting on public security. In March 2022, Sylvain Carron announced he was stepping down from his role as Montreal Chief of Police and that he was retiring early. Following his departure, Sophie Roy was appointed as interim chief of the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal, in May. She will remain interim chief of the Montreal Police until the City finds a permanent candidate for the position.

Following Carron’s departure, the City of Montreal put the research for a new chief of police on hold to conduct public consultations and group discussions.

A technical proposal was drawn up by the Direction attraction et acquisition de talent of the Montreal Human Resources Service in collaboration with the Bureau de la Commissaire à la lute au racism et aux discriminations systémiques, the Service de la diversité et l’inclusion sociale, as well as the Commissaire aux relations avec les peuples autochtones.

The public consultations and groups discussions allowed the Montreal Human Resources Service to seek information on the qualities and characteristics that citizens would like the next chief of the SPVM to have, as well as their expectations for what needs to change in the agency and their ways of operating.

The responses collected from the public consultations and group discussions come from more than 750 respondents from the island of Montreal, 70 respondents coming from the staff of the SPVM, as well as members of multiple organizations.

Demands made by the public and different groups included that the next chief of police of the SPVM demonstrates good communication skills, a strong commitment to transparency and accountability, leadership, in-depth knowledge of social issues to fight against racism and systemic discrimination, a strong sense of social justice, a strategic vision as well as an openness to others.