Quebec’s new domestic security minister has ordered two separate investigations into a Montreal police officer who allegedly urinated on homeless people while in uniform.
Guy Jr. Lapointe said both the police ethics commissioner and the province’s independent police watchdog, known as the BEI, will look into the matter.
According to a news release, the investigations will be “conducted independently and will shed light on this situation.”
“It’s a matter of transparency,” Lapointe told CBC’s Daybreak Monday morning, adding that he feels it is clear an additional investigation should be conducted by an external body.
“I want to preserve the public’s trust in their police force and it was done in that spirit.”
The officer in question works at Station 21, which serves parts of downtown Montreal.
He has been suspended with pay since mid-August, following an internal investigation by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), according to Radio-Canada sources.
Sources say he allegedly filmed himself, over the course of more than a year while on duty, humiliating people experiencing homelessness to the point of urinating on them while they slept in the street.
2 Montreal police officers accused of humiliating acts, including urinating on homeless people
A second SPVM officer from Station 21 was also suspended for alleged acts of humiliation directed at racialized people, according to Radio-Canada.
He will not be subject to the independent investigations mandated by Lapointe.
Lapointe says his decision to open independent investigations into the actions of one of the suspended officers is not a vote of no confidence in the SPVM.
Guy Jr. Lapointe, a former police officer, was sworn in as minister of domestic security last week. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada expressed her support on Sunday for Lapointe’s decision to order the independent investigations.
In a statement posted to the social media platform X, Martinez Ferrada wrote in French that “citizens have a right to answers. It is essential to shine full light on the facts and that accountability is at the heart of this process.”
Hundreds gather to protest ‘abusive’ police behaviour in Montreal
The allegations have sparked protest.
Hundreds of Montrealers gathered in front of SPVM Station 21 on Saturday afternoon to express outrage over the alleged acts by the suspended police officers.
Protestors renewed calls to defund the police over abuses of power.
