Potentially hundreds of protesters detained and/or arrested by Montreal Police (SPVM) in violation of their rights at eight protests between 2012 and 2014 are entitled to a share of the $3.1 million settlement the City of Montreal reached with lawyers in a class action lawsuit. The city will also post an apology on their website.
The SPVM started kettling protesters (surrounding then detaining them) as a routine tactic in 2012 when the city added a clause demanding protesters provide a route to Municipal Bylaw P-6 under Gerald Tremblay’s administration at the height of the student protests. The clause was struck down by the courts in 2018 then taken off the books by Valérie Plante’s administration in 2019.
Protests covered by this settlement include anti-police brutality marches and the anniversary of the start of the student strike protest.
This agreement, which still needs to be approved by the Quebec Court of Appeals on December 21st, means that anyone who was detained and/or arrested by the SPVM at the following protests could be entitled to financial compensation:
- June 7, 2012 at around 6 p.m., on Notre-Dame Street, between des Seigneurs and Richmond
- March 15, 2013, on Sainte-Catherine Street, between Sainte-Élizabeth and Sanguinet Street, from around 5:45pm
- March 15, 2013, on Sainte-Catherine Street, between Sanguinet and Saint- Denis Street, from around 6:30pm
- March 22, 2013, on De Maisonneuve Boulevard, between Saint-André and Saint-Timothée Street, from around 6:20pm
- March 22, 2013, on Saint-Timothée Street, near the intersection with De Maisonneuve Boulevard, from around 6:15pm
- April 5, 2013, on De Maisonneuve boulevard, between Berri and St-Hubert Street around 6:35pm
- May 1, 2013, on Place Royal, at the corner of de la Commune Ouest around 7:15pm
- March 15, 2014, on Chateaubriand Street, between Jean- Talon and Bélanger Street around 3:20pm
Featured Image of a police kettle at the 2015 Anti-Police Brutality March by Cem Ertekin
