Security Guards, Montreal Police, and the Thin Blue Line

The thin blue line slogan has been around for about a century. 

But in the context of white supremacy, most of us first learned of the symbol during the infamous Charlottesville Unite the Right rally of 2017.

This symbol of white supremacy and unaccountable police power is on the vest of a security guard quietly eating lunch in the information kiosk of a downtown Montreal federal government building. Later it’s seen again on a different guard keeping an eye on the escalators. They smile politely when I nod at them. I would otherwise be invisible.

The thin blue line patch and its implications are a bit more clear-cut in the United States. The symbol has taken root in Canada among police forces and far-right groups, but in Quebec, things are always a little more opaque. 

To a degree, there is a little bit of a cultural bubble — or at least a plausible claim of one — that insulates Quebec from some aspects of the broader North American culture war. Invocation of the bubble is often opportunistic, like during ostensibly philosophical debates about the ‘when, how, and why’ use of the N-word. 

Those who lament the cultural and social isolation brought on by two centuries of joint British elite and Catholic Church repression are the same to invoke the bubble, as a kind of socio-cultural notwithstanding clause.

Thus, the thin blue line patch – as it was worn by two security guards photographed at Complexe Guy-Favreau this past summer – is a more complicated affair. 

Most experts agree it’s a hate symbol. The matter is currently being reviewed by the Montreal police to determine whether they should amend their dress code regulations and fall in line with an increasing number of other police forces, including the Vancouver police and the RCMP. 

NBC News: Capitol Police officers speak.

"I was being beaten with a thin blue line flag and guys were trying to grab my gun, chanting, kill him with his own gun."

Bear spray and mace used by the rioters. More from @TODAYshow https://t.co/qWpj63HIyO pic.twitter.com/Yb8lhY65F9

— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) January 15, 2021

Anti-racist activists and advocates for police reform view the patch as a symbol of mounting police oppression. Even some police chiefs now view the symbol as representative of hateful ideologies. 

“The image of the ‘thin blue line’ began to be used by the police in Los Angeles in the 1960s after several officers were involved in the brutal beating of a detained person,” says Ted Rutland, a Concordia University professor whose research focuses on urban politics, planning, and policing in Canada. 

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“The image conveys the ‘thin line’ between social order and chaos/anarchy, and the role of the police in ensuring society remains on the side of order. It is used for political purposes, particularly in periods where the police are criticized, to shore up the legitimacy of police forces — to remind the public that, whatever harms the police might have caused, it was done in an effort to protect society.”

“The fact that police officers in the United States started wearing the thin blue line when the first wave of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement emerged in 2014 is telling. It was an effort to push back against a movement against police racism and violence. In Canada, officers began wearing the thin blue line patch significantly in and after 2020, when the second wave of the BLM movement and defund the police movement emerged,” Rutland continued.

“Police should not be allowed to wear the patch.”

"Chat logs from the Charlottesville organizers reveal that savvier white supremacists know that swastikas undermine the breadth of their appeal. The Thin Blue Line runs less risk of alienating potential supporters." https://t.co/w6js2FivyS pic.twitter.com/faiIB10rdO

— Ed Beck (@DEdwardBeck) June 15, 2018

People working in positions of authority in Quebec are now forbidden from wearing religious symbols under the province’s highly controversial Bill 21 legislation. This means that an observant Muslim or Jewish nurse, teacher, or police officer would not be permitted to wear a hijab or yarmulke while on the job. 

While the legislation is steeped in the xenophobia that lies at the heart of Quebec ethno-nationalism, the government’s justification is that the presence of a religious symbol could complicate citizens’ interactions with authority figures.

In response to questions from The Rover about whether the patch interfered with a security guard’s ability to function impartially, the media relations team at the Ministère du Conseil exécutif indicated that since it’s not religious in nature, Bill 21 doesn’t apply.

The Rover also asked the Montreal police (SPVM) whether their officers are allowed to wear the patch. Mélanie Bergeron, SPVM media relations manager, would only say that the matter is still being revised in the context of a broader overview of regulations and procedures concerning the police force’s dress code. 

“The SPVM hopes to be able to implement the revised procedure at the beginning of 2024,” said Bergeron.

As for the federal government, Alexandre Baillairgé-Charbonneau, media relations spokesperson for Public Services and Procurement Canada stated: 

“The Government of Canada is sensitive to the fact that some Canadians may perceive this symbol negatively. We continue to take steps to ensure that our workplaces are inclusive for employees, tenants and visitors, and that our suppliers adhere to Canada’s Code of Conduct for Procurement (mandatory for all Government of Canada procurements). This includes holding suppliers and their subcontractors accountable for operating lawfully and expecting them to conduct their activities in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.” 

They did not respond to specific questions about the guards at Complexe Guy-Favreau.

And while Quebec premier François Legault’s administration has been over-focused on the alleged bias religious symbols may have on public sector workers in positions of authority, calls of racial bias by police officers go largely unheeded. A recent CBC report analyzing 15 years of data revealed that Quebec police face about 100 complaints of racial profiling per year, though few ever lead to any disciplinary actions. 

Anti-racism groups like the Red Coalition have accused the SPVM of withholding a report into racial profiling for months after the study was concluded. When the final report was made public in the summer of 2023, it noted that racialized Montrealers are disproportionately more likely to be stopped without cause by police. The university researchers who led the study recommended the SPVM suspend these racially-motivated police stops.

In response, SPVM chief Fady Dagher said that he wouldn’t do so, calling the experts’ recommendation a “symbolic gesture,” and then stating that the SPVM would continue the practice in a way that “respects the rights and freedoms of all populations.” 

Dagher acknowledged the possibility of biases that could influence the conduct of police officers before pivoting to claim his officers aren’t racists, and then concluding that there is systemic racism. Writing in The Conversation, Ted Rutland describes a general lack of enthusiasm by the SPVM to end racial profiling in Montreal. 

The use of the controversial symbol is problematic for the aforementioned reasons, but also because of the unique context of the building, its location, and the people who live and work there.

Complexe Guy-Favreau has a large Service Canada service centre, a major passport office, and Montreal’s principal Immigration and Refugee Board office. While these offices and services are available to people of all backgrounds, the downtown Montreal location serves a greater number of people of colour, immigrants, and/or people from racialized backgrounds. The institutional nature of racism is evident not only in the fact security guards would feel so comfortable sporting controversial symbols in a space of presumed neutrality, but also in several recent interactions between racialized communities and people in positions of power and authority.

Major backlogs processing passport applications led to days-long queues at the Guy-Favreau passport office in the summer of 2022. Police were controversially called to assist the building’s security services. Though police described the incident as one in which they encouraged “impatient people” to leave, Le Devoir reported it seemed more like police had cleared it out.

The same building also holds Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) principal call centre. In 2022, a human resources consulting firm was contracted to audit the office amid claims of systemic racism and discrimination. When the audit’s final report was released, it was criticized by union officials representing IRCC workers for inadequately investigating racism and discrimination at the office.

The Rover reached out to Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s office for comment on the subject, given he also represents downtown Montreal at the House of Commons. Bahoz Dara Aziz, Miller’s press secretary, referred The Rover back to IRCC’s media relations team, stating that the minister had nothing to add.

IRCC sent an unaccredited email response that simply indicated security guards at the building are not the responsibility of Immigration Canada.

In addition to its government offices, the complex houses a large, mostly elderly Chinese community that has faced several unique challenges relating to policing in recent years. A spate of Sinophobic attacks brought an enhanced police presence to the area, which was particularly hard hit by business closures during the pandemic. When the complex’s YMCA folded due to a drop in attendance, the city of Montreal turned it into a homeless shelter. As Montreal police began driving the city’s unhoused population towards the complex, its presence in Chinatown diminished. Most recently, the RCMP has alleged the presence of “secret Chinese government police stations” in Montreal’s Chinatown, a claim rejected by local community groups who are now threatening to sue the RCMP for defamation.

Issues of race and class interact with hierarchies of power on a daily basis, but in this downtown Montreal federal government office building, it’s difficult to believe wearing such a charged symbol could simply be an oversight.