Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada is denouncing new allegations of police misconduct in recent encounters with unhoused people that have prompted the suspension of two officers.
One of the officers allegedly urinated on an unhoused person while on duty. The other suspended officer allegedly posed for photos in which he appears to mock a suspect placed in a humiliating position during an arrest.
The allegations were first reported by Montreal daily news outlet La Presse, which said it relied on several police sources who revealed how fellow officers denounced their colleagues.
The mayor's office told The Canadian Press that Montreal police briefed Martinez Ferrada about the allegations on Thursday evening, hours before they appeared in the news report.
"The allegations about officers at (the downtown police station) are very serious and run counter to the dignity we owe to everyone," the mayor said in a statement. "I salute the officers who denounced this situation. An investigation must now follow its course to shed light on everything that happened."
Police confirmed on Friday morning they suspended the two officers from a downtown station and opened an investigation but did not give further details about the allegations.
This brings the total number of high-profile Montreal police suspensions linked to misconduct allegations to six since June.
Police say four other officers were suspended over allegations of racist misconduct at another station where management was forced to dismantle a 16-member patrol unit on June 12.
In an email, police said they take the new allegations seriously, but declined to provide further details, citing a legal responsibility to protect personal information about their employees and to avoid compromising the professional standards unit's ongoing investigation.
In a separate statement, the union representing Montreal police officers described the allegations as "shocking" but did not comment further.
These allegations surfaced hours before the “homeless night” march in Montreal. The annual event is aimed at raising public awareness about the reality of homelessness.
Protesters brought signs denouncing the alleged police actions. One read "police piss everywhere, even on homeless people."
But workers from community organizations helping the unhoused said they were not surprised to learn about the new allegations of misconduct.
"People come to us to report abuses every day, truly horrific things," said Sophie Sénécal, the director of Clinique Droits Devant, a legal aid clinic dedicated to those experiencing homelessness. "Often, they aren't believed."
"Unfortunately, this isn't an isolated case," said Sénécal. "But often people don't want the story to go public because they're afraid of repercussions."
Linda Charlebois was one of those marching at the protest. She regularly volunteers with organizations supporting homelessness, such as the Maison Benoit Labre.
She said she was outraged when she read about the allegations.
"It's inhumane, you wouldn't even do that to a dog, so imagine doing it to a human," said Charlebois. "I think there's a lot of prejudice. I'd ask police to put themselves in a homeless person's shoes for two minutes and see."
Intervention worker Kira Prentice said she is disgusted by the reported behaviour, but added that she's "never seen police officers interact with homeless people in a way that wasn't filled with disrespect."
She added she would like to see some police funding transferred to community organizations that have more experience interacting with vulnerable people who are living on the street.
Protesters hold signs while marching in solidarity with homeless people, in Montreal, on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal and a handful of party members attended the march against homelessness.
Asked about the suspensions, Ghazal said it puts a stain on the police force.
"We know it's difficult to build trust between people experiencing homelessness, intervention workers and police officers. And this degrading behaviour must never exist and must be denounced," she told journalists.
The new suspensions also come at a time when Montreal police and the city are trying to rebuild trust with the public.
In June, separate allegations of racism and misconduct prompted the police chief, Fady Dagher, to hold a late Friday-evening news conference to announce he had dismantled a patrol unit in a multicultural neighbourhood in the northeast part of the city.
Crown prosecutors are reviewing the evidence to determine whether to pursue criminal charges against officers involved.
Police have confirmed they reviewed a number of allegations of misconduct, including allegations that some officers kept locks of hair from racialized people as trophies.
In internal documents obtained by The Canadian Press in September, police described a "radicalization" among some of its officers as the force attempts to change its culture of impunity.
Alain Babineau, a former RCMP officer now working with a civil-rights group, said he also was not surprised to read about the new allegations against the officers working downtown.
"We all knew Station 39 was not an anomaly," Babineau said over the phone, referring to the allegations out of Montréal-Nord. "How do you rebuild trust when your officers are rogue?"
Babineau's group, the Red Coalition, said it has reported the two alleged incidents involving unhoused people to Quebec's police ethics commissioner. Babineau is also calling for a public inquiry into Montreal police misconduct.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
By Erika Morris | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.