Toronto, September 21, 2009: The Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) endorses the decision of the Quebec Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse to launch a consultation on racial profiling in the province. Over the past few years, the CRRF has noted with great dismay the numerous reported incidents of racial profiling in Quebec and called upon police services in the Province to investigate these incidents seriously. "More recently, the allegations of César Carillo, a Quebec Ministry of Education employee, about racial profiling by the Quebec City police is an additional example that warrants investigation if the Quebec police agencies are to maintain and strengthen their credibility among cultural communities in the province", said Dr. Ayman Al-Yassini, CRRF Executive Director.

 

In March 2009, the CRRF issued a joint statement with the Canadian Human Rights Commission urging policing and security agencies in Canada to systematically collect human rights-based data as a tool to help prevent discrimination. "There is a need to speak about racial profiling openly and objectively if we are to eliminate racism and racial discrimination. The initiative of the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse to hear the experiences of youth with regard to racial profiling and its consequences is needed if we are to identify effective solutions and eliminate all forms of racial discrimination in our society",  Al-Yassini added.