Futur Montréal proposes anti-hate action plan featuring AI threat detection, quick-response officers

By News Staff, Posted August 14, 2025 12:59 pm. Updated August 14, 2025 1:17 pm.

Montreal's newest municipal party unveiled its plan to tackle hate in the city.
Futur Montréal's proposed “Project Sentinel” is being billed by the party as a “comprehensive anti-hate action plan” to combat hate crimes and hate incidents.

The plan proposes to use AI-powered threat detection to lead to “rapid-response enforcement.”
“This is bold, practical, and ready for immediate implementation,” said party co-founder Joel DeBellefeuille. “It delivers real-time detection, instant action, and court-ready proof to tackle hate head-on.”
DeBellefeuille says his new party is the first in the city's history to propose such a plan.
It includes hate crime rapid response officers equipped with secure smartphones for encrypted photo, video, and audio capture; a zero-tolerance bylaw banning hate symbols, hate graffiti, and public intimidation toward protected groups; and AI-powered monitoring of public spaces.
“If elected, Futur Montréal will launch Project Sentinel within our first 90 days in the boroughs hardest hit by hate,” said DeBellefeuille. “This is not a study or a promise for years down the road, it’s a detailed, action-ready plan to ensure hate has no safe space in our city.”
Hate crimes were up in Montreal last year. Montrealer's reported 375 hate crimes and 202 hate incidents in 2024, which represents a 6.2 per cent and 18.1 per cent rise, respectively.
Hate crimes and incidents involving a person's ethnicity, national origin, skin color and sex went up, while those targeting a person's sexual orientation dropped.