Montreal/Tiohtiá:ke, October 13, 2021 – The Defund the Police Coalition is calling on candidates in the upcoming Montreal election to commit to defunding the police and reinvesting in communities. The Coalition, formed in June 2020, brings together over 80 Montreal groups involved in the struggle to combat police injustice and transform public safety in the city.
The group is holding a press conference on Wednesday to call on candidates in the current Montreal election to commit to defunding the police.
Recent years have seen growing support for a new approach to public safety in Montreal and around the world. This approach emphasizes an array of community services and interventions and a massively reduced role for police. This approach is summarized by the demand to defund the police and reinvest in communities.
“We’re told that punishment or the threat of punishment is the best strategy to promote security in our cities,” says Coalition member Marlihan Lopez. “But who’s security are we protecting? How can we talk about security without talking about housing for all? Without talking about tending to the drug overdose crisis?”
Last summer, Montrealers took to the streets in unprecedented numbers to protest police racism and violence and call for the defunding of police. The majority of Montrealers support this vision. An Environics poll shows that 54% of Quebeckers support defunding the police. In the city’s pre-budgetary survey last August, 73% of those surveyed called for a cut in the police budget. In spite of this, Projet Montreal has increased the SPVM budget and promised continual increases if they are re-elected. Ensemble Montreal is trying to distinguish itself by even more overinvestment in police.
Coalition member Jessica Quijano emphasizes the need for a new approach in the context of the violence faced by Indigenous women. ““This year we had an increase in femicides and deaths among the Indigenous homeless population,” says Quijano. “The lack of political action is what perpetuates the MMIWG2S crisis. Defunding the police is about reconciliation and actually putting solutions forward to end MMIWG2S.”
Montrealers want a new approach and the elements of this approach are clear in the demands of the Defund the Police Coalition. These demands, rather than ignoring violence and other forms of harm, seek to address these problems head-on with non-police solutions that actually work.
Media contact:
Jessica Quijano
438-868-2448
