Municipal police officers will have the right to remain silent and won’t be forced to submit reports during an investigation by Quebec’s police watchdog.
The Fédération des policiers et policières municipaux du Québec and the Fraternité des policiers et policières de Montréal won their case against the Quebec government in a ruling handed down on April 30, 2024 by Court of Appeal Judge Robert Mainville.
Municipal police officers had already received a favourable ruling in Superior Court in 2022, but the Quebec government had decided to appeal.
The police unions argued that forcing the officers to talk or share their reports violated their right to remain silent and not incriminate themselves.
As for handing over the documents to the Bureau d’enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), Quebec’s police watchdog, the judge ruled that since the police officer involved is the subject of the investigation, “he cannot be forced to serve as a source of information about his own criminal actions.”
The judge said the police officer involved has the right to remain silent, and should be informed of that right at the outset of any investigation.
The BEI, set up in 2013, is mandated to investigate when a person or police officer dies or is seriously injured during a police intervention or detention.
The judge rejected the government’s argument that the submission of the officer’s report to the BEI and the absence of informing an officer of their right to remain silent were both necessary to ensure that the investigation was conducted “quickly, efficiently, impartially, independently or transparently, and to maintain public confidence in the justice system.”
“Other provinces that have adopted similar investigative measures do not impose such obligations on the police officer involved, and there is no evidence in the record to suggest that this would prejudice those investigations or undermine public confidence,” the judge said in his decision.
Yves Francoeur, the president of the Montreal Police Brotherhood, said in a statement that he was pleased with the decision.
“It’s a victory that preserves the fundamental rights of police officers,” he said.