Montreal police racism reports span four decades, court rules systemic

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Montreal police racism reports span four decades, court rules systemic?

Of the 37 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 70% are rated left, 27% are rated centre, 3% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 39. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.

Is Montreal police racism reports span four decades, court rules systemic left or right?

The story itself is neither. What can be counted is who has covered it, and 70% of the 37 rated outlets on it are rated left — so far this is a story carried mostly by the left. Coverage of this one has settled, so that is unlikely to move much now.

Is the coverage of Montreal police racism reports span four decades, court rules systemic biased?

Montreal police racism reports span four decades, court rules systemic is one event reported by 39 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.

Which side is not reporting Montreal police racism reports span four decades, court rules systemic?

When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.

Which outlets covered Montreal police racism reports span four decades, court rules systemic?

39 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.

What did the Bellemare Commission find?

The Bellemare Commission, launched after the 1987 police killing of Antony Griffin, found discriminatory practices in Montreal police. Its 1987 report recommended training, oversight reforms and hiring more officers from diverse communities, leading to the creation of the police ethics commissioner in 1990.

What did the 2019 report on Montreal police stops show?

A 2019 report by three independent researchers, commissioned by the city, found Black and Indigenous people were four to five times more likely to be stopped by Montreal police. A 2023 follow-up report showed those figures had remained virtually unchanged.

What did the 2024 Quebec Superior Court ruling say?

In 2024, a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled that racial profiling is a systemic issue in Montreal’s police force. The decision came from a class-action lawsuit, and the city has appealed it.

Which outlets covered the story?

Left and centre-rated outlets carried the story, including 11 left-rated digests and four centre-rated digests. Medicine Hat News published a full report. No right-rated outlet among the 17 that ran the story published any report or digest on it.