Constitutional challenge regarding police powers
Trudel Johnston & Lespérance represents the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in this case. CCLA has been a party to the litigation since 2021 and participated in a 21-day trial alongside the plaintiff, Joseph-Christopher Luamba, in this important constitutional law and racial profiling case.
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On December 20, 2024, the Attorney General of Quebec filed a notice of application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. While the CCLA is of the view that the Court of Appeal did not commit any reviewable error, it has taken the position that the case is of sufficient public importance to merit consideration by the Supreme Court under the applicable test. The parties are awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on whether or not to hear this appeal.
On March 20, 2025, the Attorney General of Quebec filed a motion with the Court of Appeal requesting that the effects of the judgment of October 23, 2024, be suspended until the Supreme Court has rendered its final judgment.
On March 31, 2025, the Court of Appeal rendered a judgment granting in part the Attorney General of Quebec motion and suspending the effects of its judgment of October 23, 2024, but only for situations concerning interceptions for the purposes of sobriety testing. Police are no longer able to carry out arbitrary roadside interceptions for other purposes.
On May 1, 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada granted the application for leave to appeal and the application to cross-appeal. Therefore, the case will be heard before the Supreme Court. The parties should file their factum in the next months.
History of the file
On October 25, 2022, the Superior Court rendered a judgment rendering inoperative the common law rule established in R v. Ladouceur, and codified in article 636 of the Highway Safety Code, which gives police officers the power to intercept vehicles at random without reasonable grounds to believe or suspect that an offense has been committed outside of a structured program.
According to the Court, this power violates several rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, namely the rights to liberty and security of the person guaranteed by section 7, the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned guaranteed by section 9, and the right to equality guaranteed by subsection 15(1).
In so concluding, the Superior Court recognized that the power given to police officers by article 636 of the Highway Safety Code has a disproportionate effect on racialized people, in that it gives rise to numerous situations of racial profiling.
On November 25, 2022, the Attorney General of Quebec filed a notice of appeal against the trial judgment.
On October 23, 2024, the Court of Appeal rendered a landmark judgment in which it confirmed the trial judgment, recognized that the conditions had been met to reconsider R. v. Ladouceur, and declared that section 636 of the Highway Safety Code violated the rights guaranteed by sections 9 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Following a landmark judgment by Justice Yergeau in October 2022 declaring the police power in dispute invalid and unconstitutional, the Attorney General of Quebec appealed the judgment. The appeal was heard by the Quebec Court of Appeal over two days in March 2024. The Court’s judgment is currently under reserve.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) was granted intervener status on a conservatory basis in this case, meaning that it joined the plaintiff in support of its claims, administered its own evidence and participated fully in the six-week trial at first instance. On appeal, the CCLA is a respondent.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has obtained conservatory intervenor status in the file – which means that it has joined the applicant to support his claims, can bring evidence, and fully participate in the upcoming trial. This case raises important public interest matters. By accepting the CCLA’s status in the file, the parties have recognized that the organization has a substantial contribution to make to this case.
The case
Trudel Johnston & Lespérance is proud to represent the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which intervened in a constitutional challenge that seeks to put an end to certain police powers that enable racial profiling.
This case challenges the power of the police to carry out roadside checks without suspicion. The CCLA argues that this power is unjustified, arbitrary, and represents a significant violation of individual rights guaranteed by the Charter.
For more details, the CCLA’s press release announcing the file is available here: https://ccla.org/cclaintervenesracialprofiling/
More information on the case: Luamba c. Procureur général du Canada et Procureur général du Québec. Court number: 500-17-114387-205 (Cour supérieure du Québec)