Toronto, January 15, 2025 – Next week, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) will appear before the Supreme Court of Canada in Quebec v. Luamba, a case about systemic anti-Black racism and racial profiling by police.
Mr. Luamba is a Black Montrealer 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 Quebec’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. Both the trial judge and the Quebec Court of Appeal agreed that the routine motor stops violated Mr. Luamba’s Charter rights and struck down the provision. On January 19 and 20, the Supreme Court will hear Quebec’s appeal.
“This is the first time in over 40 years of equality rights cases that the Supreme Court will directly confront anti-Black racism,” says Ruth Goba, LEAF Executive Director. “This case gives the Court a critical opportunity to demonstrate – clearly and unequivocally – that the Charter’s promise of equality is real, meaningful, and fully inclusive of Black people in Canada.”
LEAF will argue that racial profiling is an equality rights issue. The Court needs to take an intersectional approach to understanding the harms of racial profiling, including its impacts on Black women, Black children, and Black families. Police stop young Black men the most frequently, but they also disproportionately stop Black women, trans and non-binary people.
“The Supreme Court has an important opportunity to acknowledge that unguided police discretion harms the equality rights of Black women, Black children, and Black families,” says Goba. “It negatively impacts their self-esteem, perceptions of equality, and confidence in the justice system–whether police stop them, their loved ones, or their fellow community members.”
LEAF is grateful to be represented by Akosua Matthews and Kat Snukal (Kastner Ko LLP) in this case.
LEAF’s interventions are guided, informed, and supported by a case committee with expertise in the relevant issues. We are grateful to this intervention’s case committee members (in alphabetical order): Yola Grant, Sonia Lawrence, Reakash Walters, and Fenessa Williams.
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
About the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is a national not-for-profit and charity that works to advance the equality rights of women, girls, trans, and non-binary people in Canada through litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Since 1985, LEAF has been involved in over 145 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To find out more, visit www.leaf.ca.
