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University experts are concerned about the growing judicialization of people experiencing homelessness in Quebec for 20 years. They denounce an increase in the number of infraction reports issued by the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ).
Researchers from the universities of Montreal, Sherbrooke and Ottawa analyzed the number of tickets issued to people experiencing homelessness between 2013 and 2022. Among other things, they based on data from the Municipal Court of Quebec.
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Their report, entitled The judicialization of homelessness in Quebec: alarming findings, was published Thursday.
One of the most striking findings is the increase in judicialization, notes in an interview with Radio-Canada Céline Bellot, professor at the School of Social Work of the University of Montreal, director of the Profiling Observatory and co-author of the report.
The data demonstrates that People brought to justice are increasingly aging people. The reasons given for giving them tickets for infractions have also evolved.
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Motifs which are both linked to the consumption of alcohol in public spaces, but also to all kinds of interactional dynamics, such as insults and obstruction [targeting the police], notes Ms. Bellot.< /p>
The district of La Cité-Limoilou, in downtown Quebec, remains the most affected by this judicialization .
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The report highlights the increase in the judicialization of people experiencing homelessness in Quebec. (Archive photo)
The data shows that the phenomenon is also increasing in Beauport. We know to what extent, in this area, people think about the phenomenon of homelessness which is growing. We also see that if there is an increase in homelessness, there is an increase in judicialization, indicates Céline Bellot.
Between 2000 and 2022, at least 16,368 tickets were issued to people experiencing homelessness in Quebec.
During the period covered by the first report (2000-2010), an average of 374 infringement reports were issued per year and during the period studied in this report (2013-2022), this average is 1263 reports, i.e. more three times more, we can read in the research report.
In 2020, people experiencing homelessness made up at least 20% of people who received a ticket in Quebec City and in 2021, 15.4%, this which constitutes an alarming over-representation.
A quote from Extract from the report “The judicialization of homelessness in Quebec: alarming findings”
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Céline Bellot is a professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Montreal. She is also director of the Profiling Observatory. (Archive photo)
This number increased steadily between 2013 and 2020, before experiencing a slight decline in 2021, a year marked by the pandemic.
The 2022 figures are incomplete since they only cover the period from January to June, warn authors.
According to Céline Bellot, this report only documents the tip of the iceberg of the phenomenon of judicialization of roaming, since it was produced using a single database.
We clearly see that there is targeting, identification and therefore differential treatment of these people in public space, observes the researcher.
The Quebec government recognized in its action plan on homelessness that judicialization represents a barrier to escaping homelessness and does not work, recalls Céline Bellot. The information does not seem to have reached Quebec City, she laments.
Despite all this scientific and political consensus on the fact that judicialization is not an answer, we see a strengthening of judicialization in Quebec.
A quote from Céline Bellot, professor at the School of Social Work of the University of Montreal
And things are not about to improve, according to the researcher, who expects similar figures for the year 2023.
Neither the City nor the police department seem to have realized that there is an issue and [they] do not want to change their practices. […] We see nothing in the [behavior of] the actors [suggesting] that there are changes.
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The authors of the report invite the City of Quebec and the SPVQ to review their approach towards people experiencing homelessness. (Archive photo)
The case of Quebec is also particular, particularly with the acceleration in the number of people experiencing homelessness in Quebec. The fact that this issue does not visibly appear on the radar of stakeholders is also worrying, in the eyes of Céline Bellot.
It's not like that in all cities, notes the co-author of the report.
She and her colleagues are calling for awareness of the phenomenon by the City of Quebec and its police department in with a view to stopping the phenomenon.
They also demand an end to social profiling practices, in particular through the implementation implementation of action plans, and changes to municipal regulations which lead to the judicialization of people experiencing homelessness.
The researchers are also calling for an increase in funding for community organizations that help them.
Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116
