Ten Point Program
1. We Want Freedom. We Want Power To Determine The Destiny Of Our Black Communities.
We believe that Black people in Montreal will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny, free from both Canadian colonialism and Quebec nationalist frameworks that exclude us.
2. We Want Full Employment For Our People.
We believe the federal, provincial, and municipal governments are responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the business class will not provide full employment, then the means of production should be placed in the community so that the people can organize and employ all of its people. Quebec’s hydro and social resources should serve the communities that build them.
3. We Want An End To The Robbery By The Capitalists Of Our Black Communities.
We believe that this government has robbed us through discriminatory hiring, housing segregation, and predatory lending. We demand reparations for the historical and ongoing theft of Black labor: slavery in Canada, the destruction of historic Black neighbourhoods like Little Burgundy through “urban development”, domestic worker exploitation, and the underpayment of immigrant labor. The federal, provincial, and municipal governments must pay this debt.
4. We Want Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter Of Human Beings.
We believe that if landlords will not give decent housing to our communities, then housing and land should be made into cooperatives so that our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing. We demand an end to renovictions, gentrification in Little Burgundy, Parc-Extension, and Montreal North, and housing discrimination against Caribbeans, Africans, and all Black residents.
5. We Want Education For Our People That Exposes The True Nature Of This Decadent Canadian Society. We Want Education That Teaches Us Our True History And Our Role In The Present-Day Society.
We believe in an educational system that gives our people knowledge of self, our history in Africa, the Caribbean, and here in Montreal. We demand an end to streaming that pushes Black students into vocational paths. We demand a curriculum that teaches the history of slavery in Canada, the destruction of Black communities, and the contributions of Africans, Caribbeans, African Americans, and other Black communities to building Montreal.
6. We Want Completely Free All-Encompassing Health Care For All Black And Oppressed People.
We believe that the federal, provincial, and municipal governments must provide, free of charge, health facilities which will not only treat our physical, mental and emotional illnesses, many of which result from systemic oppression, poverty, and stress, but which will also develop preventative medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We demand an end to the privatization of healthcare in Quebec. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information in our languages, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical attention and care. The current system fails Black communities through racism, neglect, and lack of culturally competent care.
7. We Want An Immediate End To Police Brutality And Murder Of Black People.
We believe we can end police brutality in our communities by organizing Black-led community accountability groups grounded in restorative justice frameworks dedicated to defending our communities from SPVM oppression and brutality. We demand accountability for the killings of Black people by Montreal police and an end to racial profiling. We will protect ourselves by whatever means necessary.
8. We Want An Immediate End To All Wars Of Aggression.
We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desires of the Canadian ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world, often in complicity with U.S. imperialism. From mining operations in Africa and South America, to military interventions in Haiti, Canada enriches itself through exploitation abroad. We believe that if the Canadian government or its allies do not cease these aggressive wars, it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.
9. We Want All Black People When Brought To Trial To Be Tried In Court By A Jury Of Their Peer Group Or People From Their Black Communities.
We believe that the courts should follow the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms so that Black people will receive fair trials. A peer is a person from a similar economic, social, religious, geographical, environmental, historical, and racial background. To do this, the court must select a jury and/or judge from the Black community from which the Black defendant came. We have been, and are being, tried by mainly all-White juries and judges that have no understanding of Black communities in Montreal.
10. We Want Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice, Peace, And Language Rights.
We believe that every person is inherently worthy and deserving of a life of dignity, self determination, opportunity, resources, and respect. We demand full access to services in French and English. We demand status for all undocumented Black residents. We stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples whose land we occupy. Black lives in Montreal matter.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that humankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
In order for us all to be free our demands must be clear, tangible, and representative of our communities. This Ten Point Program is a living document that can, will, and should be updated and changed to address the current sociopolitical state of Montreal. We give permission to other marginalized communities to use this document as a guide to learn and build from so that their communities can have their needs clearly stated. There should be a Ten Point Program or an equivalent document for Indigenous Canadians, women, LGBTQIA+ communities, students, Palestinians, and all other marginalized groups in Montreal and beyond. We envision the existence of a Black Liberation Party of Montreal being a part of an umbrella alongside other organizations that would mobilize together but still independently. Hopefully, with all of our demands mutually understood, we can all work together to ensure the freedoms and safeties of every and all people living in Montreal.
Heavily inspired by The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense Ten-Point Platform and Program.