Alain Babineau joins The Red Coalition, dedicated to eliminating racial profiling, systemic racism in Montreal

By Gabriel Guindi
Posted Jun 1, 2022, 4:34PM EDT.
Last Updated Jun 1, 2022, 4:43PM EDT.
The Red Coalition, a group dedicated to eliminate the practice of racial profiling and systemic racism in Montreal, has appointed a new director. Alain Babineau will now serve as their spokesperson and coordinator on issues of racial profiling and public safety.
“It’s a new organization, but I have detected among it’s members a very genuine desire and interest to tackle the issue of racism and discrimination head-on,” Babineau said at a press conference on Wednesday morning at the Jamaica Association of Montreal’s offices.
A jurist and a trained mediator, Babineau served in law enforcement for over 30 years – including with the RCMP.
Babineau has worked as an expert in racial and social profiling for the Office of the Commissioner for the Fight against Racism and Systemic Discrimination for the city of Montreal, and as an advisor to the Center of Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR).
He says he wants to help put an end to racial discrimination among law enforcement towards communities who are most affected.
“We want to increase diversity in law enforcement. Particularly in this province diversity is atrocious and this cannot be tackled in a piece meal sort of fashion, it has to be taken seriously,” Babineau said.
Though the eventual goal is to achieve diversity in all respects, there’s a method in the hiring process of finding the people most qualified, according to Babineau.
“We don’t just want to recruit diverse people for the sake of diverse people, we want to recruit people that believe in operating in a diverse society who have a good attitude towards diversity and we want to make sure that police services will be welcoming for those people that we want to recruit.”
Many like Babineau and The Red Coalition describe “trauma” as a leading outcome of racial profiling affecting not only the individual, but also the family or friends that are closest. Babineau and The Red Coalition are now asking elected officials to play their part in helping abolish racial profiling, especially as a tool to policing.
“We’re asking the [federal] public safety minister, and the [Canadian] government as whole, to enact a law prohibiting racial profiling. […] It’s a dual responsibility from the government, the federal; government and the provincial government to provide guidance on how police services are to conduct themselves,” said Babineau.