Montreal’s municipal election campaign is currently focused on housing, public transit, and public safety. The candidates are emphasizing their abilities to enhance the city’s security. Most of the main Montreal parties have pledged to bolster police surveillance in response to public safety concerns. However, the specific details of these surveillance plans remain vague, raising potential issues around the normalization of mass surveillance in Montreal.
Leaders of Ensemble Montréal, Action Montréal, and Futur Montréal, including Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Gilbert Thibodeau, and Jean-François Kacou, advocate for increased police presence in neighborhoods and on public transit, along with the installation of additional security cameras to deter criminal activities. Martinez Ferrada is proposing a voluntary security camera registry, enabling officers to identify residents’ home CCTV camera locations. Thibodeau supports the use of smart surveillance cameras in public areas, which could potentially collect biometric data.
Although camera registries are promoted as aiding crime prevention by facilitating faster investigations through easier access to footage, concerns exist regarding their effectiveness. Studies suggest that CCTV cameras have a modest impact on reducing crime, especially in specific areas like parking lots and residential zones. However, the investigatory benefits are still inconclusive. The voluntary nature of these registries may not prevent law enforcement from legally obtaining footage from known security cameras.
Participation in camera registries, while presented as voluntary, could lead to societal pressure for community members to join, potentially blurring the lines between private surveillance and law enforcement initiatives. The deployment of advanced surveillance technologies, such as facial recognition, raises privacy and security concerns, particularly for marginalized groups who are disproportionately targeted by surveillance efforts.
In the realm of public security, various parties have differing approaches. Project Montréal’s Luc Rabouin advocates for police body cameras, increased lighting in public spaces, and mixed teams of police and social workers for handling vulnerable situations. Martinez Ferrada’s Ensemble Montréal aims to expand the police force covering the STM network, improve public lighting, and establish collaborative police-social worker teams for interventions. Transition Montréal focuses on municipal workers over technological solutions, while Futur Montréal proposes a specialized police squad targeting downtown violence and drug trafficking.
While the use of surveillance cameras and patrols is a common theme among the parties, the potential implications of these strategies on privacy, security, and community dynamics remain under scrutiny. For more details on the candidates’ platforms, refer to CBC’s Montreal municipal election platform tracker.