Montreal-           It has been almost two months since police shot and killed 40 year old Mario Hamel and 36 year old Patrick Limoges, early on the morning of June 7th, near Berri-UQAM metro station. At approximately six a.m. police officers found Hamel on St. Denis near St. Catherines opening garbage with a knife. According to police, he allegedly brandished the knife at four officers, and then fled. While events are unclear, police chased Hamel to Rene Leveque, where he allegedly either grappled or charged at officers. They then proceeded to subdue Hamel with lethal force, firing three shots at the man on a downtown sidewalk, according to witnesses. One bullet ricocheted up to 50 meters, and struck Patrick Limoges as he was on his way to work at St Luc’s Hospital, only a block away. Hamel was killed at the scene, and Limoges died in hospital later the same day.

                Police officials quickly began issuing statements in defence of the officers. Sgt. Claude Dennis, spokesperson for the SQ, who are investigating the shooting, claimed that Hamel had threatened someone prior to police intervention, although he could not substantiate when or where this occurred. Richard Dupuis, a former commander of the Montreal major crimes unit commented LCN TV that “ [I] was told by investigators on the case that four police officers were wrestling with the man to get him to drop the knife... when you are trying to subdue a person with a knife you have to be fairly close to them," Dupuis said. "You cannot let this person get away in downtown Montreal at rush hour. He turns on you and you have a split-second to react.” He did not comment on why four officers armed with tazers, clubs, and pepper spray and trained in self defence felt threatened enough to draw their guns in public on a single person armed with a pocket knife, whether this was a breach of procedure, or excessive use of force.

                The next day, 200 of Limoges fellow workers at St Luc’s hospital temporarily stopped traffic on Rene Levesque to hold a silent vigil at the place where he was killed. They stood in silence for five minutes, and flowers were laid near the spot where his blood still stained the sidewalk before returning to work.  That night approximately 200 demonstrators met at Berri Square and marched to the site of the police killings just around the corner to protest the latest in a long series of shootings by Montreal police that many feel demonstrates a pattern of police violence and impunity. The crowd vented their frustrations with the system against several businesses, throwing materials from a nearby construction site through several windows, and confronting the police riot squad before being dispersed. There were no arrests. One anonymous demonstrator claimed that the destruction was justified, “that's the price for the two lives lost at the hands of police. This is the kind of demonstration that is costly and embarrassing for the city and that's a good thing. Sometimes the cost of slaughtering people has to be manifested in a way that has an actual palpable cost for the city."

                In Quebec, shootings by police are investigated by another police force, in this case the Sûreté du Québec (SQ). Officers did not begin to collect evidence from the scene until June 9th, after the protest and vigil, when the scene had been heavily trafficked for two days. They concluded three shots had been fired. The following day they announced video evidence from a security camera supported the version of events described by police, while releasing a still frame of what appears to be Hamel facing officers. The officers themselves, who were released from hospital after being treated for shock, had still not been questioned five days later, neither had witnesses. SQ Lt. Guy Lapoint stated that he was not concerned about the officers confirming their statements with each other, and said the video evidence would support them. He did not say whether the officers were able to see the unreleased video before giving their statements.  Martin Desroches, spokesperson for the Montreal Police Brotherhood claimed that the police union has no guidelines for questioning officers after a shooting.  This contradicts a directive from the minister of public security, which lays down the regulations on how police and witnesses are to be isolated before questioning, and how evidence is handled. Officer Lapointe claimed to be unaware of any such policy.

                A week after the shooting, another rally was held, this time by a group of families who have all lost loved ones to police shootings in Montreal, to denounce police violence and impunity, and to call for an independent body to investigate police shootings and excessive use of force. Francine Registre, sister of Quilem Registre, who died after being tasered by Montreal police in 2007, said police cannot be trusted to investigate each other.“No officers are ever charged after the shootings — they have to be accountable,” Yet as the sense of shock and outrage fade from the public consciousness, the friends and family of Hamel and Limoges, as well as the larger Montreal community are left wondering why these two men are dead. The SQ has remained silent on the status of the investigation, and in light of previous shootings, it seems unlikely that the officers or anyone involved will ever be held to account without a public inquiry. Meanwhile, two months on the flowers and the blood have been washed from the pavement, the broken windows replaced, and the memory of protests faded. But the memory of Mario Hamel and Patrick Limoges is not forgotten by those who knew and cared about them. Their names will be added to the list of names like Freddy Villenueva, Mohamed Anas Bennis, Gladys Tolley, Claudio Castagnetta, Ben Matson, Quilem Registre, and all the others killed by police in Montreal, whose families are still waiting for justice.