Legal clinic says $8.6 million in federal spending could help tackle systemic racism

Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel speaks with reporters in the Foyer of the House of Commons in Ottawa, Wednesday, Feb.4, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

MONTREAL — Lawyers at a legal clinic operating in a low income neighbourhood in Montreal say that millions of dollars in federal grants will soon flow through into Black communities across the country to help them tackle systemic racism.

The Saint-Michel clinic, which has a mandate to support victims of racial profiling, hosted federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel on Friday as she rolled out her plan.

Michel said the government is spending the money to help reduce over-policing and address the overrepresentation of Black people in the justice system.

She acknowledged that the Black community has been asking for more support for decades and that the program was long-overdue.

“As Black Canadians, we are well aware of the systemic barriers that have stood in our way,” she said. “We also know that justice can only be truly just when it is representative of society. The presence of Black lawyers in law firms, the courts, universities and all decision-making bodies is a democratic necessity.”

Michel said that the spending is part of the federal government’s Black Justice Strategy, first introduced in 2024. It includes $8.6 million over two years invested in two dozen projects across the country to ensure that “individuals will be given trauma-informed and culturally appropriate assistance to prepare for court.”

According to Statistics Canada, 6.2 per cent of those accused in criminal courts between 2016 and 2023 were Black despite making up 3.7 per cent of the population. The federal agency’s data also shows that the proportion of Black accused persons has increased by nearly two per cent in the same time frame, with the overrepresentation especially prominent in Nova Scotia and Ontario.

The Saint-Michel legal clinic will receive more than $290,000 over two years, the only organization in Quebec to receive funding from the envelope.

Fernando Belton, the Saint-Michel legal clinic’s executive director, said the initiative “marks a significant turning point for the Saint-Michel legal clinic and for Black justice, for Black people across Canada.” He said they are all in need of tools to navigate the complexities of a justice system where they are more likely to be targeted and punished.

“Systemic racism exists in all our institutions,” said Belton. “At every stage — from the moment people are arrested, through their treatment, and even when determining the timing and conditions of their release — there is bias at play.”

A study commissioned by Montreal’s police department released in 2019 revealed that Black people are 4.2 times more likely to be stopped by its officers.

These are statistics that have driven a long and costly battle for the Black community that has continued this month at the Quebec Court of Appeal. 

The legal clinic intervened after the City of Montreal appealed a Superior Court ruling that found Montreal police had a systemic racial profiling problem and were violating Charter rights of people who were unfairly stopped, arrested, detained and profiled between July 11, 2018 and Jan. 11, 2019.

“We work in a domain in which we always need more money,” said Dardia Joseph, one of the clinic’s lawyers who is working on the class-action lawsuit. “We’re running the program on scarce resources and a lot of heart.”

The hope, she and Belton say, is that the federal funding will be renewed.

“Hundreds of years of oppression cannot be fixed by two years of funding. It doesn’t make sense,” she said. “We’re grateful for what we have and we hope for more.”

She adds that the funding will allow Black people to work within the justice system to address systemic racism, in part by setting legal precedents.

The Black Coalition of Quebec, which led the class-action lawsuit against the City of Montreal, will not receive funds from the envelope. 

In an interview ahead of the announcement, president Malamine Maro said the coalition is glad the federal government is trying to reduce the number of incarcerated Black people.

But, he adds, the envelope could have been doubled to include organizations like his. 

He says the coalition, which runs a legal clinic, can spend up to $600,000 per year in legal fees and cases often drag on.

“It’s a step in the right direction, though, in my view, it’s not a huge step, given the scale and significance of the issue,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2026.