POLICE ETHICS COMMITTEE DECISION WRONG ON RACIAL PROFILING, APPEALED BY ARAB WOMAN IN SUPERIOR COURT

Montreal, September 20, 2011 --- Amal Asmar, the Arab Concordia University graduate who was violently arrested and fined by two Montreal Police officers in Winter 2010, has filed for judicial review of the Police Ethics Committee decision that rejects her racial profiling claim due to what she considers to be erroneous application of the law.

The case will provide a rare opportunity for Quebec courts to address racial profiling and discrimination in police practices.

This is the second time this year that a Police Ethics Committee decision involving racialized complainants is subject to judicial review on the grounds of denial of civil rights and misinterpretation of Charter jurisprudence on discrimination. Last Winter, a deaf, Black and indigent man filed for judicial review of a Committee decision dismissed his case, in which he challenged the fact that he was denied his constitutional right to an interpreter at the hearing and his right to the equal protection and benefit of the law based on race intersecting with disability.

Both cases involve incomplete investigation and flawed analysis by the Police Ethics Commissioner and are supported by CRARR. CRARR's legal partner, Aymar Missakila, represents the appellant.

The legal brief will be filed in November. Both the Committee and the Commissioner will file their respective briefs in December and the appeal will be likely heard in summer 2012.

More to come.