Montreal Metro Security Think They Are Policemen

I was in the metro some years ago when I heard loud voices and and saw children backing away from metro security. Three very large white french speaking males were accusing three very small and very young black girls of illegally using an adult bus pass and using it more than once for more than one person which is illegal. Myself and my wife (who is white) watched from the sidelines as the situation escalated out of control. Both sides were screaming at the top of the scale now and with the language barrier I do not think anyone was getting their point across. It was at this point that the guards grabbed the girls and tried to arrest them. They were trying to drag the girls from what I could gather to a closed off room used for interrogation purposes and as a holding cell. The girls began to panic and demanded their mother be called and the police and to have a female metro person in the room or they were not going into the room with grown men alone. The metro security guards redoubled their efforts to haul the girls into the room.

The girls managed to pull free of them. Now a crowd was trying to stop the metro security guards from continuing this farce and endangering these girls who were now blindly running down the stairs with them in hot pursuit. The chance of them tripping and falling onto the tracks was getting very real. The metro security guards finally grabbed these little girls and forced them into a room where they could be heard threatening them saying now you will do as you as you are told. We have you now. The girls could be heard yelling keep your hands off of us and we want our mothers.

People were now calling 911 on behalf of the girls and no one would leave the outside of the door where the girls were being held. We banged on the doors until the police came so that the girls and the guards would know that someone was hearing everything. The police did come and were not happy that minor girls were being held without a female by these men. The police talked to us the crowd and told us that the girls were all right and that as soon as their parents came they would be going home. Some of us remained outside of the door until the children's parents came. They thanked us and took our names in case they needed a witness to the events. We were never called so I guess the whole matter was settled privately.

My brother who is now close to 60 years old just recently was detained and roughed up by metro security guards returning home after a hard nights work. As he entered the metro he realized along with a group of people who were also entering the metro that the guy in the ticket booth must have went on a break, but as is customary left the green light to enter on signaling it was ok to pass. Three or more metro security guards were standing there watching everyone entering without paying and decided to intervene. They asked everyone to stop and wait to pay. When the people tried to explain that no one was in the booth and the light to pass was on the metro cops got rough.

They were herded into a room and pushed around. The security guards forced each person to declare if they had a pass that could have been swiped. When the supervisor came onto the scene he was worse than his subordinates and actually physically threw my brother out into the street shoving him in the face telling him to go home or else. They were each given $600 tickets for various metro rule violations. All of the people involved have instituted a joint suit against the metro, the city of Montreal and the offending metro policemen.

I understand the need for security in the metro, but this type of strong-arm behavior is becoming more and more the norm. These metro security guards really think that they are real policemen. They strut around often looking for trouble, or a chance to prove how tough they are. Here is happened to a girl going to Mcgill University when she was confronted by metro security.

------------------------------------------------Racism beyond the Roddick Gates

By Marguerite Bravay
Published: 11/30/09

In late March of this year, 23-year-old McGill student Jackie Jones was apprehended by five Société de transport de Montréal (STM) security guards just after entering Peel metro station. The guards approached Jones, who is black, while she was standing at the top of the escalators with a Hispanic male friend of hers. They asked her in French to move out of their way. They became agitated when she asked them to repeat themselves in English.

"They said 'Move now!' and it was a bit aggressive. I listened and was going to move on, but I told them that there is no need for the aggression. At this point they asked for my ID and were going to give me a ticket," Jones told The Daily ("McGill student victim of racial profiling," News, October 26). "When I started to question them about why I was receiving a ticket, one of the guards grabbed my arm and twisted it to my back. They called for three more male security guards, who slammed me onto the ground and handcuffed me." Upon finding her McGill student card in her purse, the STM guards released Jones almost immediately. She subsequently sought assistance from the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) and filed a racial profiling complaint seeking $45,000 in moral and punitive damages with the Quebec Human Rights Commission. In August, Jones was charged for obstructing the work of civil servants, and fined $100. The preliminary hearing of her case was held Wednesday morning at Montreal's municipal court. Now that the legal proceedings have begun, the impact of racial profiling on the McGill and Montreal communities is brought back into focus. While the McGill bubble is often seen as a safe haven, students have a different view of the rest of Montreal. One black student, who wished to remain anonymous, said that she had never experienced racial profiling or any other form of discrimination at McGill, though she explained that "it could definitely happen [in Montreal]".

"[McGill's level of tolerance] can be chalked up to an issue of education," said Melissa Li, a U1 Pharmacology student. "Lack of education entails closed-mindedness, which leads to discrimination and [here at McGill] people are fairly open to differences." Li, who takes the metro every day, told The Daily about another incident of racial profiling she witnessed at Peel station over the summer: "The metro was stalled
"In some cases, the STM [discourages] people from complaining, telling them they don't have a good case," she elaborated.

Gibson urged all students to stand up for their rights, like Jackie Jones did: "If you feel you've been racially profiled or discriminated
-with files from Stephanie Law