Linda McKay-Panos of UofA’s UofC’s ABlawg reviews the case in Coward v. Alberta (2008) that came out this summer.

Mr. Coward was approached by the police and searched on the basis that he was black.  He subsequently took the case to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission.  The police claim their actions were justified since the suspect they were looking for was also black.

McKay-Panos says the main issue of the case was,

When a person is approached and questioned by police because his race and some other factors match the description of a person of interest, and is subsequently arrested and searched, is that racial discrimination?

The findings of the case were summarized as follows,

In order for a complaint of racial discrimination to be successful, this case suggests that the police must be very intentional when approaching persons of colour for arrest. It would not be considered illegal racial discrimination if the person’s colour is part of a description which includes other factors, as opposed to the circumstances where the police officer’s beliefs and then behaviours (i.e., arrest) are based on unfounded racist assumptions. The latter, however, may be very difficult for a complainant to prove.