Mathieu Cloutier is a prosecutor at the centre of a real controversy and media drama. The Agora Cosmopolitan has presented a strong-worded editorial outing the apparently racist City of Gatineau-based prosecutor of doing everything possible to avoid scrutiny from the Quebec Human Rights Commission. The whole controversy has to do with incidents of racial profiling in which police officers in Gatineau reportedly accosted a black man for flimsy reasons such as ‘driving a rented vehicle’ or even ‘walking on the grass’. This has led to a torrent of outrage as many condemn the deplorable acts by the police.

Critics of Mr Cloutier and his apparent band of Dirty Cops insist that 2020 Canada is not an apartheid regime of South Africa decades ago when police officers needed no reason whatsoever to confront or arrest a black person.

Such critics also question why and how the prosecutor has been able to escape scrutiny from the Quebec Human Rights Commission for weeks. It is alleged that he has been able to stay off the radar of the agency by engineering a system of Kangaroo Courts to turn a blind eye to mountains of evidence by victims against the Gatineau Police.  

However, dodging phone calls was not the only tactic that Cloutier has been able to deploy in the trial set for March 24 in order to stay away from the commission as much as possible. His initial excuse which emanated from his office was that he had gone on ‘paternity leave’. But, when the so-called ‘paternity leave’ ended, his stonewalling tactics continued.

Considering the fact that Quebec is an integral part of Canada, the prosecutor ought to have no option but to respect the rules as contained in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Several complaints relating to issues of racism have been directed against Cloutier and his office. For someone who is supposed to be upholding the law, he has been accused of ironically persecuting others. He has been compared to being a personification of everything that is bad with the public security system in the City of Gatineau is concerned – especially from the perspective of the blacks or even aboriginal people in the city.

What is going on in the City of Gatineau regarding these bad practices cannot happen or become widespread in a place like Canada’s national capital region. Cloutier is accused of not just condoning these racism-fuelled transgressions but he has also been described as someone who apparently endorses such discriminatory behaviour – hence the badge of corruption on him.

As far as Mr Cloutier is apparently concerned, the Gatineau Police under his watch ought to be able to do anything they like against blacks and First Nations people and even if that appears to be harassment.  Mr Cloutier is what can be described as an unapologetic supporter of institutionalized racism and the kind fascism that is commonplace in places like China but have no business doing a the progressive “distinct society” which Quebecers value.