Quebec Minister orders independent probes into Montreal police officer
A Breach of Public Trust
“It just boggles the mind to think that anyone could do this, let alone a police officer,” James Hughes told CTV News. The statement follows allegations that a Montreal police officer filmed himself humiliating and urinating on a sleeping unhoused man.
Quebec’s newly appointed Domestic Security Minister, Guy Jr. Lapointe, has ordered independent inquiries into the conduct of the officer, who was stationed at Montreal’s Station 21. The officer, tasked with patrolling a downtown district home to a significant unhoused population, was suspended with pay following an internal investigation by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
Expanding the Scope of Investigation
Lapointe confirmed that both the province’s police ethics commissioner and the independent police watchdog, the BEI, will examine the incident. Bringing in external entities is necessary to preserve public confidence, Lapointe said, rather than casting doubt on the SPVM’s internal work. According to reporting by CBC News, a second officer from the same downtown station was suspended in August for alleged acts of humiliation directed at racialized people, though that officer remains outside the scope of the newly ordered watchdog probes.
The allegations extend beyond a single incident. La Presse reported earlier in the month that the officer allegedly filmed himself humiliating unhoused individuals over the course of a year.
Calls for Systemic Accountability
For advocates, the administrative response is only a starting point. Alex Berthelot, an administrator with the homeless rights organization Le RAPSIM, called the independent inquiries the bare minimum. Berthelot emphasized that the ultimate test of accountability will be seeing the officer arraigned in court, noting that urinating on someone constitutes a criminal offense.
The incident has drawn scrutiny from the highest levels of local government. Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada voiced support for the external investigations on X, stating that citizens deserve full transparency and accountability. Hughes, a Member of the National Assembly and former president-director general of the Old Brewery Mission, noted that while downtown police interactions with unhoused residents had generally improved over the past decade, allegations of this severity raise serious questions about systemic progress.
A Growing Climate of Dehumanization
Public frustration manifested outside the precinct, where hundreds gathered in front of SPVM Station 21 to protest abusive police behavior. Berthelot warned that unhoused populations have faced a growing dehumanization over the last five to six years, with vulnerable individuals increasingly treated as public nuisances rather than people in need of help.
The government plans to hold a summit on homelessness next year, part of a stated goal to cut the number of unhoused people in half by 2030.