This case is about systemic anti-Black racism and racial profiling by police.
LEAF is intervening before the Supreme Court of Canada.
Facts
Mr. Luamba is a Black Haitian student in Montreal who received his driver’s license in 2019. In just over a year, police detained him without reason three separate times, asked for his ID, and released him without a ticket. Police carried out these stops under the authority of section 636 of Québec’s Highway Safety Code, which allows for routine motor vehicle stops without cause and not as part of a structured traffic stop program.
Mr. Luamba brought a constitutional challenge to section 636 under sections 7, 9, and 15 of the Charter.
The trial judge held that s. 636 violates sections 7, 9, and 15 of the Charter and cannot be saved under s. 1. The Québec Court of Appeal held that section 636 violates sections 9 and 15 of the Charter and cannot be saved under section 1. The Attorney General of Quebec appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Arguments
LEAF will argue that the Court needs to ground its section 15 analysis in substantive equality and intersectionality, including a consideration of the harms of racial profiling on Black women, Black children, and Black families. The section 15(1) Charter test should remain flexible and contextual to capture systemic and adverse-effects discrimination. Finally, section 15(1) Charter equality principles should guide the interpretation of other rights, ensuring that liberty and security rights are understood through the lived realities of those disproportionately affected by police powers.
Outcome
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in this case in 2026.
Read LEAF’s factum.
LEAF is grateful to Akosua Matthews and Kat Snukal (Kastner Ko LLP), counsel in this case.
LEAF’s interventions are also guided by a case committee with expertise in issues relevant to the intervention. LEAF is grateful for the case committee members who supported this intervention, including Yola Grant, Sonia Lawrence, Reakash Walters, and Fenessa Williams.
