Editing Driving while black (section)

=== Canada ===

In July 2009, a black Canadian named Joel DeBellefeuille was pulled over (for the fourth time in several days<ref name="jdos">{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/police-officers-suspended-without-pay-for-racial-profiling-1.1135294|title=Police officers suspended without pay for racial profiling|date=December 10, 2012|publisher=CBC|access-date=June 10, 2013}}</ref>) by [[Longueuil]] police because, according to documents, "his [[Bellefeuille|Quebecois name]] did not match his skin tone".<ref name="Wyatt">{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/black-man-says-quebec-police-stopped-him-because-of-his-skin-colour/article1655204/ |title=Black man says Quebec police stopped him because of his skin colour |last=Wyatt |first=Nelson |date=July 28, 2010 |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |location=Montreal |access-date=July 29, 2010 |archive-date=July 31, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100731054646/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/black-man-says-quebec-police-stopped-him-because-of-his-skin-colour/article1655204/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> He refused to provide identification or car insurance documents when requested by the officer, and was accordingly fined by a municipal court.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/new-trial-ordered-in-quebec-racial-profiling-case-1.1018752 |title=New trial ordered in Quebec racial profiling case |date=November 17, 2011 |work=CBC News|access-date=June 10, 2013}}</ref> DeBellefeuille filed complaints with the [[Canadian Human Rights Commission|Human Rights Commission]] and the police, seeking $30,000 in damages.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/black-man-with-quebecois-name-files-complaint-against-longueuil-police-1.536891 |title=Black man with 'Quebecois' name files complaint against Longueuil police |date=July 28, 2010 |publisher=CTV Montreal |access-date=July 29, 2010}}</ref> Crown prosecutor Valérie Cohen defending the police claimed that officers were in their rights to check the ownership of the car on a reasonable suspicion: "the officers' actions were comparable to stopping a man for driving a car registered to a woman called 'Claudine'."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/Driver+says+victim+racial+profiling+police+court+hears/6297104/story.html |title=Driver says he was victim of racial profiling by police, court hears |date=March 7, 2012 |work=Montreal Gazette |access-date=January 27, 2019 |archive-date=March 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315201237/http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Driver+says+victim+racial+profiling+police+court+hears/6297104/story.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In December 2012, his tickets were dismissed and the officers were suspended without pay. The judge wrote that the mentioned rationale for pulling over demonstrated flagrant ignorance of [[Quebec society]].<ref name="jdos" /> DeBellefeuille's provincial human rights complaint could not be pursued because it had been filed too long a time after receiving the initial ticket.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/racial-profiling-victory-for-south-shore-man-1.974164 |title=Racial profiling victory for South Shore man |date=September 27, 2012 |publisher=[[CTV News]] |location=Montreal |access-date=September 16, 2015}}</ref> In 2020, DeBellefeuille won another court victory over a separate, subsequent racial profiling incident that happened in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Tribunal des droits de la personne (Québec) |title=Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (DeBellefeuille) c. Ville de Longueuil, 2020 QCTDP 21 (CanLII) |url=https://canlii.org/en/qc/qctdp/doc/2020/2020qctdp21/2020qctdp21.html?resultIndex=1#_Toc66178432|website=CanLII |access-date=21 January 2021 |date=17 November 2020}}</ref>

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, an assistant professor of sociology at the [[University of Toronto]], and Anthony Morgan, a civil rights lawyer, said that in the 1980s and 1990s the [[RCMP]] introduced [[Operation Pipeline]], a drug interdiction strategy used in the United States. However, the strategy came under criticism because it directed police officers to allow racial profiling to motivate police stops.<ref name="G&M-2016-07-18">{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/a-hard-truth-canadas-policing-style-is-very-similar-to-the-us/article30942053/ |title=A hard truth: Canada's policing style is very similar to the U.S. |date=July 16, 2016 |newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]] |first1=Akwasi |last1=Owusu-Bempah |author2=Anthony Morgan |access-date=2016-07-18}}</ref>

A 2002 analysis by the ''[[Toronto Star]]'' found that police were more likely to stop black drivers than white drivers in [[Toronto]] without evidence of an offense. The ''Star'' looked at "out-of-sight" offenses such as failing to update a driver's license or driving without insurance when no other offense was found. "Out-of-sight" offenses could only be discovered if police had some other reason to stop the driver, thus suggesting racial profiling.<ref name="TheStar-2002-10-19">{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/knowntopolice/singled-out.html |title=Singled out |date=October 19, 2002 |newspaper=[[Toronto Star]] |first1=Jim |last1=Rankin |first2=Jennifer |last2=Quinn |first3=Michelle |last3=Shephard |first4=Scott |last4=Simmie|first5=John |last5=Duncanson |access-date=July 18, 2016}}</ref>

In 2003, the [[Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission]] ruled that the human rights of Black Canadian boxer [[Kirk Johnson]] were violated while driving. Police would repeatedly pull Johnson over, and in one case seized his car because the officer was not satisfied with Johnson's documents.<ref name="G&M-2021-07-16" />

In March 2019, criminologist Scot Wortley released a study that found that the [[RCMP]] in suburban [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]] performed street checks five times more often on Black people than white people. Street checks or [[Carding (police policy)|carding]] is the police practice of stopping people at random on the street to collect personal information for later storage in a police database.<ref name="G&M-2021-07-16" />

In July 2021, two [[RCMP]] officers in [[Nova Scotia]] stopped a car containing a black couple, and ordered the male driver at gunpoint to exit the vehicle with arms raised. After several minutes of explanation, the officers released the couple. The officers discovered that the driver was Dean Simmonds, a Halifax police superintendent and a 20-year veteran of the force. He was wearing plain clothes and was on a grocery trip. His wife in the car was Angela Simmonds, a lawyer and a [[Nova Scotia Liberal Party|Liberal Party]] [[2021 Nova Scotia general election#Dartmouth/Cole Harbour/Eastern Shore|candidate in the 2021 provincial election]]. The RCMP officers said their reaction was due to reports of gun shots in the area. The couple planned to launch a complaint of racial profiling with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.<ref name="G&M-2021-07-16">{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ns-police-officer-wife-launch-complaint-against-rcmp-for-driving-while/ |title=N.S. police officer, wife launch complaint against RCMP for 'driving while Black' |newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]] |date=July 16, 2021 |access-date=July 17, 2021}}</ref>