Montreal Women Talk About Profiling

In 2010, I reported a neighbor to the police for stealing my cat (an expensive breed). I was told that I was not allowed to let my cat out and that I should talk to him to make him understand that he needed to stay in my house for his safety. Not only was I not taken seriously, I was given ridiculous “lessons” as a recommendation. In the end, I was just scolded like a misbehaving child. Never found out if they actually talked to the neighbor.

In 2008, I reported a situation to the police and was basically belittled the whole time and made to feel like I was being unreasonable and wasting their time, that they weren’t going to do anything about it. I later found out that they did show up still.

A security guard broke my best friend’s nose at a ska show because he was flirting – kindly, in my opinion – with the other female security guard. When I tried to protect my friend, he pulled my arm and threw me to the ground as well. We missed the whole show because we immediately went to the hospital in an ambulance because my friend was bleeding really badly. My friend lost against him in court years later.

I got gas in the face and physically pushed away by the police during a non-mixed student march in 2015.

There are security guards at the university. They are at the entrance. They have been more present in the last 2 years to enforce the covid rules. Sometimes they asked us to wear our masks. Sometimes nicely, sometimes less.

I am a street social worker – I work with the homeless population of Montreal. I often have to interact with the police. This can be for things like; my client needs to go to the police station, file a report, is being arrested, needs accompaniment, camping dismantling. I also interact with private security guards on a daily basis – in shopping malls, around universities, and in businesses. The reason we interact is usually due to profiling! As a woman… my interactions are very different. The women I work with also have very different interactions.

In the summer of 2022, the police blocked my street in Pointe St-Charles because of an unknown event. I went to ask the SPVM policewoman stationed there what was going on, as I live at street level with a toddler. She told me she couldn’t tell me and that I should watch the news. I asked if I should be worried about our safety considering that this was happening maybe 50 meters from my front door and that there had been a double shooting there the week before. She replied that she didn’t know. Her answers only made me feel more anxious and I felt safer leaving for the day than staying home.

At different rallies, hospitals and shops. At demonstrations the police were militarized and intimidating, and at hospitals etc, the security guards are useless and didn’t enforce basic public health measures like masking.

I have been picked up by the police for mental health issues and they are always aggressive and lack any compassion. I have been followed by security guards in grocery stores.