Former Concordia student celebrates 'long-awaited victory' in ethnic profiling case

Seven years after she claimed to beroughed up,handcuffed and detained in the back of a police cruiser, the City of Montreal and two of its police officers have been ordered to pay $45,000 to a woman of Arab origin in compensation for ethnic and social profiling.

AmalAsmar, who now lives in Saskatchewan, said her long fight was worth it.TheQuebec Human Rights Commission issued its decision Tuesday.

"I am very satisfied with this long-awaited victory that will restore not only my fundamental rights, but will also serve people of colour and socially disadvantaged people such as homeless people inMontreal," said Asmar, who now works as a maternal and infant health co-ordinator in a First Nations community.

The incident dates back to 2010 whenAsmar, a student at Concordia at the time, was arrestedby constables Sbastien Champoux and Michael McIntyre in downtown Montreal.

• More details on the incident here
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While on her way to a friend's house, she stopped to siton a benchon Ste-CatherineStreet outside Alexis-Nihon Plazaaround 3 a.m. after a late night at the library studying for midterms.

A police cruiser pulled up beside her, and Asmar says she was aggressively questioned, then pushed up against the car andhandcuffed. She was then searched and put in the back of the cruiser.

Shereceived two fines for the incident: a $620 ticket for making noise and a $480 ticket for using municipal property in this case, the bench improperly.

The fines were later dropped by the city.

Asmar, who was wearing a kaffiyeh (a black-and-white scarf commonlyworn in the Middle East) at the time,arguedshe was singled out for her ethnicity and mistaken for a homeless person, who are known to frequent the area near Atwater Metro.

Officers abused authority, commission says

In its decision, the Quebec Human Rights Commission found that the two police officers "lacked respect and politeness," abused their position of authorityand detained Asmar without just cause.

The commission said the City of Montreal and the officers should pay $30,000 in moral damages. The city was also ordered to pay $10,000 in punitive damages, while each officer was ordered to pay$2,500.

It also recommended taking steps to avoid social andethnic profiling in future.

The decision is non-bindingand the city and officers have so far not paid the fines.

In an email, a spokesperson for Montreal police said the force willstudy the decision.

Quebec's Human Rights Tribunal, which is part of the Quebec Court,will likely be asked to rule on the matter, according to Fo Niemi, head of theCentrefor Research Action on Race Relations.

In an interview, Niemi said it wasthefirst time thecommission has recognized that a person has been both a victim of racial profiling and social profiling.

The tribunal could impose fines of its own or order Montreal police to make other changes to address profiling, including releasing data tracking complaints, he said.

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Niemisaid it could take thetribunal up to a year to reach a decision.

Montreal police have been dogged by allegations of racial profiling for years. A 2010 report by theQuebec Human Rights Commission found that ethnic minorities in the provinceare subject to "police surveillance that is targeted and disproportionate."