\n flag wire: true
\n flag sponsored: false
\n article_type:
\n pubinfo.section:
\n cms.site.custom.site_domain : thestar.com
\n sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications\/toronto_star
\n bHasMigratedAvatar : false
\n firstAuthor.avatar :\n <\/p>\n
By\u00a0Erika Morris The Canadian Press\n <\/p>\n
MONTREAL – Frantz Jean-Jacques remembers feeling hopeful after coming out of a meeting more than a decade ago with the commander of a police station in a multicultural neighbourhood of Montreal.<\/p>\n
Over a dozen local residents attended, including a number of young men who shared troubling stories about their own interactions with police. They came to denounce police brutality and racial profiling and pressed the station commander to take action.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good meeting,\u201d said Jean-Jacques, a former community support worker. \u201cHe had promised to investigate and ensure that kind of behaviour wouldn\u2019t happen anymore, because it was unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Jean-Jacques was the head of \u00c9voluJeunes, a community organization dedicated to supporting youths who had run-ins with the law in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
Jean-Jacques said he recalled meeting a dozen young men in his office, reporting experiences of police brutality by a handful of officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were being told (by police) to tell their friends what happened, as a warning,\u201d Jean-Jacques said.<\/p>\n
Montreal police were expected to provide an update on Aug. 11 about a scandal at a station in the city’s Montr\u00e9al-Nord neighbourhood.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
He said he was able to initiate the meeting in 2015 after sending police a letter, accompanied by some photos showing the wounds of a young Black man who alleged he was beaten by police behind a restaurant. Anti-racism lobby group the Red Coalition shared a copy of the letter with The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n
More than a decade after the meeting with the police commander, questions remains as to whether Montreal police did enough to address the allegations they heard that day. The Montr\u00e9al-Nord police station is mired in a scandal and facing pointed criticism about allegations of misconduct and of a failure to address long-standing community concerns about racism.<\/p>\n
The man who was featured in the photos and the letter from 2015 is now 39. He said he attended the meeting to share his story, but he has continued to be targeted by local police, ever since then.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat tells you everything,\u201d Jean-Jacques said in a recent interview. \u201cThat\u2019s why young people are discouraged from filing complaints. Sometimes, the police seem to take the complaints, but that\u2019s as far as it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former community organizer said he has been thinking about the 2015 meeting in a new light in recent weeks after the current Montreal police chief, Fady Dagher, dropped a bombshell.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a late Friday evening news conference in mid-June, Dagher announced police had disbanded a 16-member patrol unit in the neighbourhood over serious allegations of racism, discrimination and misconduct.<\/p>\n
Dagher said two of the officers were suspended and potentially facing criminal charges, while the other 14 had been reassigned to other tasks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Montreal police chief Fady Dagher speaks in Montreal on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ryan Remiorz\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
He also expressed feeling \u201cprofoundly shocked\u201d about the situation, saying that racism and other reprehensible behaviour was not acceptable within the ranks of Montreal police.<\/p>\n
Dagher also confirmed police were investigating reports that some of the officers involved had taken locks of hair from some local residents as \u201ctrophies.\u201d But he shared few additional details about the status of those involved and what they had done.<\/p>\n
Just over a week later, internal police documents obtained by The Canadian Press through access to information legislation reveal Dagher provided an update to employees, saying in a recorded video that three officers were suspended.<\/p>\n
Police have declined to confirm the latest information about the case in public, saying they would provide an update at a public meeting scheduled for Aug. 11.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Montreal police released an outline of their presentation for the meeting.<\/p>\n
It said they had already deployed a new team in the community on July 13 and were meeting with members of the community. The outline also said police planned to bring about real change in the neighbourhood and encourage everyone, including officers, to denounce wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
While many local residents have said they are not surprised about the nature of the allegations shared by Dagher in June, the 39-year-old man said he was caught off guard when he heard police were finally taking action about complaints of misconduct.<\/p>\n
Despite speaking out at the meeting in 2015 and filing several complaints against officers for discrimination, \u201cnothing had happened\u201d until \u201cpolice started turning on each other,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press agreed not to identify him because he feared he would be targeted by police if his name was published in a news report.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Protesters outside Montreal police station 39 in Montreal North during an anti police brutality protest on Monday June 15, 2026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peter McCabe\/ The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
About two months after the 2015 meeting, the station commander who participated, Martial Mallette, was reassigned to another station. He did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
Montreal police confirmed in a statement that Mallette participated in the meeting and that the department conducted the \u201cnecessary followups,\u201d but it declined to provide details \u201cfor confidentiality reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick Lavall\u00e9e, who was commander at the station from 2019 to 2022 and has since retired, said he never heard about the 2015 meeting. In an interview, he acknowledged police needed to do a better job of briefing supervisors whenever there\u2019s a change in leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no overlap \u2014 meaning the commander who leaves just leaves, and the next day he\u2019s replaced by a colleague. Then you have to figure out how to meet up or talk to each other,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not how it should work; it should be institutionalized.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Lavall\u00e9e rejected criticism that police did nothing to address concerns over the past decade. He said police have invested in the local station for decades and launched several pilot projects to regain public trust, including having a squad embedded in the community 24\/7.<\/p>\n
The neighbourhood was also selected for a police body camera pilot project in 2016, in part to address \u201ctensions\u201d between officers and residents following the 2008 police killing of 18-year-old Fredy Villanueva, according to a 2019 Montreal police report.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand that there are people who might say they\u2019re dissatisfied or that, historically, the grievances they raise make it seem to them as though nothing has changed, but I can\u2019t subscribe to that view for even a minute,\u201d Lavall\u00e9e said.<\/p>\n
But the 39-year-old man who attended the 2015 meeting said that \u201cif anything, things got worse\u201d after meeting with the former commander.<\/p>\n
He shared video footage with The Canadian Press of a recent altercation he and other Black residents had with police in July 2025.<\/p>\n
The man said he and his brother had joined a group of bystanders that evening who were watching and filming police arresting another man on the street. He said police called for backup and told the bystanders to move away. The officers also pointed flashlights at people who were attempting to film the incident, partially obstructing the footage.<\/p>\n
When bystanders refused to leave, the man said police became aggressive and demanded to search his brother\u2019s backpack. He said he told the officers they don\u2019t have the right to search the bag and refused to hand it over.<\/p>\n
Video footage appears to show him walking past an officer and bumping into him.<\/p>\n
Within seconds, the footage shows he was standing face to face with an officer, who kicked a black plastic container toward his feet on the ground. He kicked it back a few centimetres \u201cby reflex,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A man living in Montreal-Nord claims police officers tore out a piece of his hair during a 2025 arrest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
The footage then shows an officer suddenly moving aggressively toward the man and shoving him, before four other officers tackled him to the ground. He said the officers hit him and pulled his hair while he was handcuffed.<\/p>\n
He was charged with assaulting a police officer and legal proceedings are ongoing in municipal court. He also said he filed a complaint with the police ethics commissioner following the incident.<\/p>\n
He shared photos that appear to show a bruised area of his scalp where part of his hair was torn out. Other images appear to show scrapes on his face and legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I didn\u2019t even have any hair left, that\u2019s how bad it was,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought all my dreads were gone; I could hear my hair being ripped out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montreal police said they do not comment on specific cases or incidents unless it helps advance criminal investigations or assist in the search for suspects, victims or missing persons.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a person feels they have been wronged during one of our police interventions, they have every right to file a complaint with the SPVM or an independent organization,\u201d police said in an email.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A man living in Montreal-Nord claims police officers used excessive force during a 2025 arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
The police brotherhood did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
The man has confirmed he has had several criminal convictions including for drug-related offences, assault, and for obstructing a police officer. The last time he was convicted of a crime was in 2018, on a drug possession charge, and the rest of the convictions occurred between 2005 and 2011 when he was a young adult.<\/p>\n
But Jean-Jacques noted that police are not allowed to get rough with someone just because they have a criminal past.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if they\u2019re engaging in criminal activities, the police \u2026 are to arrest them. But they can\u2019t beat them up; they can\u2019t shove them in the back of a police car to take them away \u2014 that\u2019s illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lavall\u00e9e, the former station commander from 2019 to 2022, said that recent allegations of police misconduct are serious and that everyone agrees that, if they are true, those responsible should be punished.<\/p>\n
With Dagher set to give the public an update into the internal investigations into police misconduct, the man said he wants the suspended officers to face criminal charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just as criminal as I am,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: pubinfo.section: cms.site.custom.site_domain : thestar.com sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications\/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false firstAuthor.avatar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[17,3952,50,47099,290,1240,241,53007,31067,2131],"class_list":["post-165069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-canada","tag-justice","tag-montreal","tag-mtl","tag-national","tag-police","tag-quebec","tag-quebec-social","tag-racism","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}