Quebec Court of Appeal Blocks Traffic Stop Law, Exposing Racial Profiling in Policing – The Rover
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In a groundbreaking late-October ruling, Quebec’s Court of Appeal upheld a 2022 decision to suspend a law that permitted random traffic stops, a practice that enabled racial profiling by police. What does this landmark decision reveal about systemic racism in law enforcement—and Premier François Legault’s ongoing denial of its existence?

The judgment stands as damning evidence of systemic racism in Quebec policing — and of Legault’s ongoing denial of its existence. According to a statement by the Red Coalition, an anti-racism lobby group, his dismissal and inaction to confront the problem seems to have emboldened race-based discrimination in Quebec.

In September, this led the group to call on the Quebec government to urgently create legislation to help stop the rise in racial injustices and hate crimes, and to provide a legal framework to combat systemic discrimination.

The views of the Legault government lie in stark contrast to those of Quebecers. A 2021 study by the Association for Canadian Studies found that 66 per cent of residents believed that the term is an accurate description of the type of discrimination and prejudice experienced by minorities in the province.