Petition calls for Fredy Villanueva memorial in Montreal North

Hundreds of people have signed a petition to honour the memory of Fredy Villanuevain the Montreal North boroughwhere he was fatally shot by policealmost eight years ago.

Villanueva was only 18 when he wasshotby an officer on Aug. 9, 2008, after police moved in to break up an illegal game of dice in the park.

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Solo Fugre and Ricardo Lamour, bothcast members in the recent Montreal play Fredy,which detailed thecoroner's inquest into Villanueva's death, submitted the petition.

The petition, signed by 700 people, wasintroduced during new Montreal North Mayor Christine Black's first council meeting last month.

Itdemandsthe borough acknowledge Villanueva's place in its history by setting up an official memorial at the spot he was killed.

We're just asking for justice because we know there's systemic racism in Quebec and Fredy Villanueva symbolizes the physical resistance to systemic racism.- Ricardo Lamour

The petition also renews calls for him to be included in a mural originally slated to go up for last year's Montreal North centennial celebration but has since been delayed.

"The family has been asking for that for years," Lamour told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

As it stands,a makeshift memorial at the foot of a tree near where Villanueva was shot is often vandalized or deteriorates with time, Lamour said.

More than a memorial

Erecting an official memorial would be about more just commemorating Villanueva, he said.

"To rememberFredyVillanuevais resistance over the injustice that he was seeing, but also, it's a political act," he said.

As forfiguring out what the memorial should look like, Lamour says they're far from reaching a decision.

"We're not even at the point where we're having the discussion right now with the city," he said.

"They're just not open with talking and inviting the Villanueva family to the table and seeing what are their demands."

In Lamour's view,former Montreal North Mayor Gilles Deguire was against keeping Villanueva's memory alive. He saidthe city was reluctant to do so because "the city is the employer to the police."

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Mylne Horion, a spokeswoman for theborough, told CBC News the petition was received and passed on to a working group.

Lamoursaid he's skeptical of its commitment to follow up on the matter.

"There are so very few members of the Montreal North community at that table," he said.

"We don't really trust that working group."

Continued tension in borough

The petition comes two months after another fatal police shooting in Montreal North.

Tensions roseafter Bony Jean-Pierre, 46, was shot and killed by police during a drug raid on March 31.

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In April, the newlyformed activist group Montreal Noir called on mayoral candidates in the borough's recent byelection to address what it called "systemic anti-black racism in Quebec."

Lamour said formally acknowledging Villanueva's death as part ofMontreal North's history would be a step in that direction.

"We're just asking for justice because we know there's systemic racism in Quebec and Fredy Villanueva symbolizes the physical resistance to systemic racism," he said.