‘A reporting mechanism that people don't trust is worse than not having one at all,’ says expert

Black employees at the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) say they’re afraid to come to work — not because of the officers under investigation for racism, but because of what might happen to those who spoke up, according to a letter Black employees sent to management last week.

The crisis unfolding at the SPVM began when Police Chief Fady Dagher held a late-night news conference June 12 announcing that 16 officers stationed in the multicultural neighbourhood of Montréal-Nord were under investigation for alleged co-ordinated racist and hateful acts against Black and Arab people — including reports that officers had cut the hair of racialized citizens to keep as trophies. Two officers were suspended and 14 others were reassigned, with the SPVM recommending criminal charges against the two suspended officers.

But within days, a committee of Black employees sent a letter to Deputy Police Director Marc Charbonneau stating that some staff had learned about internal efforts to identify whistleblowers, the Canadian Press reported. The letter, released by civil rights advocacy group Red Coalition, warned that employees were reluctant to come to work as a result. “Silence does not build trust. Protecting those who speak out does,” the employees wrote in the letter.

The SPVM acknowledged in an unsigned statement to the Canadian Press that it was “aware that some employees...

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