Officers suspended by ethics committee

BY ALBERT KRAMBERGER

editor@transcontinental.ca

Two white officers have been suspended by the Quebec Police Ethics Committee for making inappropriate comments to black people in Dollard des Ormeaux.

The ethics committee decided last Thursday to suspend officers Isabelle Nault (for three days without pay) and Roger Charbonneau (for one day without pay), for making inappropriate and inconvenient remarks in Dollard on Nov. 11, 2004. Police were responding to a 911 call by a neighbour who mistakenly thought two men, in their 50s and 60s, were burglars. It turned out the men are friends of the homeowner, Gemma Raeburn, and were helping clean her garage. The officers drew their firearms as they approached the home.

According to the written ethics committee decision, Nault told Raeburn’s friend, Frederick Peters, “If you don’t like it here, why are you here? Why don’t you go back to your own country?”

Charbonneau was reprimanded for telling Raeburn that “bullets don’t see colour.”

Fo Niemi, head of the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR), told The Chronicle the suspension serve justice and that the one- and three-day lengths follow jurisprudence. The committee found them guilty on Feb. 23 but the sentencing was made last week.

“It sends a clear message that law-enforcement officers cannot make inappropriate comments to ordinary citizens,” he said Monday.

Raeburn said while some people might think the sentences are just a slap on the wrist, she is satisfied the matter wasn’t “shoved under the rug.”

“This has been a good learning experience,” she added. “The black community knows you can fight this and the police know they have to treat everyone with respect and dignity.”

Charbonneau and Nault have 30 days to appeal their sentence, a Montreal spokesman said, adding the department wouldn’t comment on the suspensions until then.

Niemi noted CRARR has good working relations with the Montreal police department brass and that with about 4,200 officers, some will fall through the cracks with regards to race-relations training and sensitivity.

“The effort is there,” Niemi said of the police department’s commitment to human rights and race relations.

Meanwhile, Niemi said they are still waiting on the Quebec Human Rights Commission (QHRC) to complete its investigation of the case. He said CRARR is seeking punitive and moral damages, $25,000 for Raeburn and $20,000 for Peters.

“The suspensions (by the ethics committee) will help our case with the human rights commission,” Niemi said, adding the delays with the QHRC investigation are problematic. “This is a simple case, why does it take so many years to investigate. It boggles the mind. This will discourage people from coming forward in the future,” he added.