Overview
- The Supreme Court heard two days of arguments on Jan. 19–20 in a case that could reset police authority to pull over motorists without suspicion across Canada.
- Lawyers for Ottawa and several provinces asked the Court to preserve random-stop powers, calling them essential for road safety and impaired-driving deterrence.
- Plaintiff Joseph-Christopher Luamba and civil-rights groups argued the power enables systemic racial profiling and arbitrary detention that disproportionately targets Black drivers.
- Quebec’s Superior Court ruled the practice inoperative in 2022 and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision in 2024, with findings that government experts showed no clear safety benefit.
- Random stops have been suspended in Quebec since April 2025, other provinces still rely on the 1990 Ladouceur precedent, and a Supreme Court ruling will follow in weeks or months; fixed checkpoints are not at issue.