The Quebec Black League maintains that under no circumstances can police officers in Montreal lawfully display or use the Thin Blue Line (TBL) badge, a symbol the organization associates with “racism, xenophobia and hatred.”
The profession of police officer is public. “Being a police officer means being at the service of the population, of all populations,” says Black League president Max Stanley Bazin, using the motto used in all communications from the current director of the Montreal City Police Department ( SPVM), Fady Dagher.
Mr. Bazin wanted to respond to our report, which mentioned that the Montreal police have had the conclusions of an internal ethics committee on the Thin Blue Line since June 2022, but that since then no director has made a decision on the legitimacy of this bears the symbol for Police officers in major cities.
Being a police officer is a privilege, not a right. If certain police officers feel unable to serve the entire population by not wearing symbols associated with racism and xenophobia, they should simply leave the force and do something else, says the president of the League of Blacks.
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The “Thin Blue Line” patch can have more than one meaning. (archive photo)
Photo: thethinbluelinecanada.ca
The “Thin Blue Line” patch, featuring a black and gray Canadian flag and a blue line, can have several meanings. For some police officers, wearing the badge is a tribute to police officers who died in the line of duty, but for others this badge may have racist connotations as the symbol has also been adopted by police groups. “rightmost.”
This association of the Thin Blue Line symbol with racism is shared by Frédéric Boisrond, who was special advisor to the management of the SPVM from 2020 to 2022.
Mr. Boisrond's assignment was to make organizational changes at the Montreal police force after former director Sylvain Caron revealed a devastating report on racial profiling.
The thin blue line icon is forever contaminated. It was recovered by the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist groups during the Unite The Right demonstration in Charlottesville in August 2017. It is very serious, analyzes Frédéric Boisrond.
The sociologist recalls that several powerful symbols have been perverted in modern history. As an example, he cites the swastika recovered by the Nazi regime during World War II, whose origins in Southeast Asia were of a religious nature.
At the end of 2023, I personally advised Director Fady Dagher that there is no way to accept the Thin Blue Line symbol in the community's culture, no matter how he turns the situation to find a compromise.
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Frédéric Boisrond is a trained sociologist and has been advising three SPVM departments on issues of racial profiling and organizational changes since 2020. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada
You cannot be a police officer and promote hatred, xenophobia and racism in any form. “The fundamental problem with some police officers is that they forget that their duty is to serve, not to enforce their vision,” says Max Stanley Bazin.
Frédéric Boisrond wants the Montreal police to make a decision in the short term.
Police officers have every right to express solidarity with their colleagues. But I think they need to find another symbol for this, says Mr Boisrond, who is always occasionally consulted by the SPVM.
Recall that opposition parties in the National Assembly have also asked Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel to intervene to put an end to this impasse.