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In an interview on CBC’s Daybreak Tuesday morning, Montreal police Chief Fady Dagher called the move to simultaneously fire seven Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) officers “historic,” saying it had never been done in the city before.
On Monday, Dagher had announced the administrative dismissal of five officers from Station 39, as well as two officers from Station 21, in connection with allegations of discriminatory and racist behaviour, as well as derogatory acts.
On Tuesday, he said accountability was important not just to the public, but also to the rest of the force.
“I want to make sure that some part of the culture of the police stays, because there was magnificent, good work being done by police officers,” he said.
Montreal police Chief Fady Dagher says efforts have been made to weed out the 1% of police officers who deliberately tarnish the uniform. (CBC)
He said the dismissed police officers will not receive compensation in connection with their dismissals, and they will be required to disclose that they had been the subject of an investigation which resulted in their termination if they sought employment with another police force.
Further action regarding the seven officers could come as the result of other investigations, including the possibility of criminal charges.
Demonstrators kneel outside Station 39 in Montréal-Nord during a protest over allegations of racist conduct involving SPVM officers under investigation. (Paula Dayan-Perez/CBC)
The SPVM has forwarded a file to the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP) for it to review charges related to allegations of discriminatory and racist acts against police officers at Station 39.
“We’ve been digging and digging and digging to find out those kinds of stories, allegations,” Dagher said. “We didn’t find any more after six, seven months.”
Last week, however, it was revealed that the DPCP is investigating another Station 39 officer who, according to Radio-Canada sources, allegedly deleted evidence from a victim’s phone in a case of domestic violence in 2025.
When an officer flagged the deletion to her superiors the issue was initially ignored, according to Radio-Canada.
Dagher said that a new action plan is underway to rebuild trust, and that community consultations will be undertaken, especially with people served by Station 39, the station where the majority of the fired officers had worked.
The plan, which is expected by the end of December, will outline revisions to the force’s recruitment, training and promotion processes.
Dagher said that despite a series of allegations, the SPVM’s most recent annual review was the best in the city’s last 15 years.
But according to Alain Babineau, former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and director of a racial profiling and public safety at the Red Coalition, action on the seven fired officers could have come sooner.
Montrealers protests police misconduct on Oct. 24. (Kwabena Oduro/CBC)
“There’s been plans over the last 20 years. Every five years the SPVM has come up with a plan to curb racism, discrimination,” he said. “People are tired of plans.”
He said that rather than praising police officers for doing work they’re expected to do, Dagher should spend time reassuring the communities his officers serve.
“This is not seven bad apples,” Babineau said. “Until you actually dismantle the system that has produced those folks, that had allowed those folks to perpetrate these criminal acts, then you can’t be totally satisfied.”
