“Driving While Black” in the Pontiac

Local community leader speaking out about unfounded reasons for being stopped by police

Executive Director of the Regional Association of West Quebecers and the host of City Life on MAtv, Linton Garner, was stopped by police on Saturday morning, March 10 for a “routine check of licence and registration”. On his way to a political event in Quyon, Quebec, he was pulled over in the village. Initially asked for proof of car ownership and driver’s permit, the officer soon dropped the request for proof of ownership when Mr Garner explained that he was looking for the location of an event held by a Quebec minister. The officer then went so far as to accompany Mr Garner to the event to help him find it. “Some 80 per cent of new immigrants are of some visible minority,” Mr Garner told the Bulletin. “With police still targeting visible minorities, I feel it is important to share my story. Especially in the context of the Toronto media personality Marci Ien’s recent experience of what a recent Globe and Mail editorial called “The double standard of driving while Black in Canada”. Montreal police also recently came under fire for unfairly targeting visible minorities. “I have been stopped seven times for no clear reason since I began driving,” Garner told the Bulletin. “Professionally, I work day in and day out for a rights-based organization and find it unacceptable that I have to live this in my personal life as well.”

MRC des Collines explained to the Bulletin that officers are tasked with random stops of drivers to verify that licence, insurance and registration documents are in order and current. They could not comment on the particular Saturday morning incident with Mr Garner, but did note that the number of random stops is dependant on the schedule of individual officers, and not related to particularities of the vehicles or the drivers.