Police chief to address Montréal-Nord racism scandal publicly. Here’s what to expect

Montreal police will be providing an update Tuesday on the scandal surrounding Station 39 in the city’s Montréal-Nord borough following allegations of racial profiling by a group of officers.

The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) made the allegations public in June, during an unprecedented late-night news conference headed by Chief Fady Dagher.

Dagher revealed that 16 officers at Station 39 were being investigated for racist and hateful acts allegedly committed against Black and Arab people during police stops.

As a result, Dagher announced the 16-member patrol was being disbanded. 

The probe was launched after colleagues of the officers reported the behaviour, he said. 

Tuesday’s public meeting was initially scheduled for July 8, but was pushed back after an active shooter situation in Montreal led to the deaths of three people, including a police officer.

The meeting will start at 6 p.m. at city hall and is open to members of the public. It will be streamed online.

The SPVM’s presentation to the city’s public security commission will provide more details on the alleged misconduct of several Station 39 officers.

It will also touch on the SPVM’s intent to change its culture, and its response plan for the Montréal-Nord police station. 

Members of the public will then be allowed to ask questions provided they have registered before the end of the presentation. 

Those attending remotely can register online here. In-person attendees can register online ahead of time, or onsite at the welcome desk in front of the Salle des Armoiries starting at 5:30 p.m.

When the scandal broke, community leaders and Montréal-Nord residents expressed their outrage, but said they were not surprised by the allegations, noting that racial profiling is not a new problem. 

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Dardia Joseph, a lawyer and deputy director with the Clinique Juridique de Saint-Michel — a non-profit legal aid clinic — said she’s hoping Tuesday’s meeting will reflect that.

“This is not the first time that we have this conversation,” she said, referring to a public hearing in front of the commission in 2024. “My hope for this meeting is that we don’t start as if we are beginning from zero.”

She said that although the SPVM updated its street check policy in 2025 to include monitoring and evaluation measures, she hopes officials will clarify what has actually changed since those new guidelines were introduced.

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Joseph questioned why the SPVM remains committed to street checks, given that nothing has changed and the practice is known to lead to discriminatory outcomes.

Joseph, along with other community leaders, demanded concrete action. She noted that she has yet to hear an apology to the residents of Montréal-Nord or “the youths who are being targeted,” adding that the community wants to see real accountability.

Other agenda items for Tuesday’s public meeting focus on rebuilding community trust through direct outreach and engagement.

Fo Niemi is the director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) — a human rights advocacy group.

He said when it comes to incidents like those in Montréal-Nord, it’s important to have complete transparency and include the perspective of those who are affected.

As racism allegations surface, Montréal-Nord community leaders ask police: What now?

“We have to be very citizen oriented. We have to be also very victim centred in looking at the situation in Montreal North and see how they have been or to what extent they have been affected by police bias,” he said.

Another local group, the Regroupement des intervenants et intervenantes d’origine haïtienne, issued several recommendations ahead of Tuesday’s meeting aimed at regaining that trust. 

Among them is having Station 39 be under civilian command, and the creation of an independent citizen oversight committee with a clear mandate for monitoring, documentation and accountability.

The group also recommends aligning public safety goals with social and economic development, because the issues are often intertwined.

Lastly they recommend that those found responsible for serious racist or hateful acts face sanctions that are proportionate to the gravity of the actions. 

To date, three of the 16 police officers at Station 39 have been suspended, three were reassigned to administrative duties and the others were transferred to different units within the police department, as reported by the Canadian Press.

Dagher also said in June that possible criminal charges could be brought against some officers.

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Quebec’s Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) told CBC News in a statement that Montreal police hadn’t, to date, submitted any requests to initiate criminal proceedings against any officers.

“Consequently, there is currently no file under review by the DPCP for analysis and charge authorization regarding the events addressed in the SPVM’s press conference on June 12, 2026,” the statement reads.

The DPCP, however, noted that allegations had been submitted for review, as required by the Police Act, and that SPVM investigators are in contact with prosecutors to seek legal advice regarding their investigation.