SPVM to equip 3,500 officers with body cameras starting 2026
Montreal’s police force will put body cameras on 3,500 officers starting in 2026, ending more than a decade of pilot projects, delays and political back-and-forth. Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada confirmed the rollout, telling reporters the equipment would arrive within the next year, though officers may not have cameras actively running on patrol until sometime after delivery. The SPVM (Service de police de la Ville de Montréal) will also install dashcams and automated licence plate readers in roughly 600 patrol vehicles as part of the same program.
You’ve likely seen body cameras on officers in Toronto, Calgary or Edmonton for years. Montreal is catching up late, and the reasons why matter as much as the rollout itself.
Key takeaways
- The SPVM body camera rollout 2026 covers 3,500 officers and about 600 vehicles equipped with dashcams and licence plate readers, but full deployment on the street could take another year after equipment delivery.
- The program carries a price tag exceeding $17 million, with ongoing costs for data storage and management that the city has not fully itemized publicly.
- Coroner Stéphanie Gamache’s report into the death of Abisay Cruz directly pushed the city to commit to cameras after years of non-committal pilot projects.
- Under Quebec’s access-to-information law, you can request footage that involves you directly, but blanket public release of bodycam video isn’t guaranteed and will depend on SPVM policy still being finalized.
- Retention periods and activation rules (when officers must turn cameras on) remain the details to watch before 2026, since these determine whether the program improves accountability or just adds a camera to the uniform.
What triggered the decision: the Abisay Cruz coroner report on body cameras
Abisay Cruz died during an encounter with SPVM officers, and the coroner’s investigation into his death became the turning point for body camera policy in Montreal. Coroner Stéphanie Gamache examined the circumstances of his death and issued recommendations that put direct pressure on the city and the police force to adopt cameras, rather than continue studying the question indefinitely.
Coroner Stéphanie Gamache’s recommendations
Gamache’s report pointed to the absence of independent video evidence as a gap in reconstructing what happened during the intervention that led to Cruz’s death. Her recommendations echoed what advocacy groups and families of other victims of police encounters had argued for years: without cameras, investigators and the public are left relying on officer accounts and witness testimony that can conflict or be incomplete.
Police body cameras can provide oversight and accountability, but without strong guardrails and public release requirements, their value is limited. That caveat matters. A coroner’s recommendation for cameras is not the same as a policy guaranteeing footage gets released, retained properly, or reviewed by anyone outside the police force itself.
How this case differs from previous SPVM pilot projects
Montreal’s first body camera pilot project dates back years, when the SPVM tested cameras on a limited number of patrol officers to assess “operational and technical feasibility,” in the language of the original program description. That pilot generated data and internal reports, but no citywide commitment followed. It sat in the same category as pilot projects in other cities that quietly ended without a rollout decision.
The Cruz case broke that pattern because a coroner’s report carries institutional weight a pilot project evaluation doesn’t. Coroners in Quebec can issue formal recommendations following an inquiry into a death, and those recommendations tend to generate political pressure that a technical feasibility study never does. City council and the mayor’s office responded to Gamache’s findings with a public commitment and a timeline, something a decade of pilot data hadn’t produced.
Inside the SPVM body camera rollout 2026
The scale of this program puts it ahead of pilot-stage rollouts elsewhere in the country, but the timeline stretches out further than officers, unions or advocacy groups would prefer.
Timeline: from council vote to officers on the street
City council approved funding and the procurement plan, setting the SPVM body camera rollout 2026 in motion. Equipment procurement, officer training and integration with existing evidence management systems will happen through the back half of this year and into 2026. Mayor Martinez Ferrada has been explicit that equipping officers with cameras and having those cameras in active use are two different milestones: officers could have cameras attached to their uniforms well before activation protocols, training and legal review are finished.
That gap between “issued” and “in use” has tripped up other jurisdictions before. Toronto’s rollout, for comparison, took roughly a year between initial funding approval and full-service deployment across its divisions.
The $17-million-plus price tag and who pays for storage
The city’s budget for the program exceeds $17 million, covering the cameras themselves, mounting hardware, and integration with SPVM’s evidence systems. That figure doesn’t fully account for the recurring cost of data storage, a line item that tends to balloon once a police force starts generating terabytes of video daily. Cloud storage contracts for body camera footage in comparable North American cities often run into the millions annually once a program reaches full scale, and Montreal taxpayers should expect similar ongoing costs beyond the initial capital outlay.
The city has not published a detailed breakdown of who absorbs storage costs long-term, whether that’s the SPVM’s operating budget, a dedicated municipal fund, or a mix of both. That’s a detail worth watching as budget season approaches.
600 patrol vehicles: dashcams and automated licence plate readers
Roughly 600 patrol vehicles will get vehicular cameras alongside automated licence plate readers (ALPR), according to city officials. The ALPR technology scans plates in real time against databases for stolen vehicles, outstanding warrants and registration status, a capability separate from body-worn cameras but bundled into the same procurement contract. Combining dashcams with ALPR gives the SPVM a second layer of footage covering traffic stops and vehicle pursuits, incidents that body cameras alone might miss if an officer doesn’t activate their unit in time.
How footage, privacy and public access will work
Cameras only improve accountability if the rules around when they record, who can see the footage, and how long it’s kept are clear and enforced. Montreal hasn’t finalized every detail, but the framework taking shape follows patterns set elsewhere in Canada.
When cameras must be activated
Standard practice in most Canadian body camera policies requires officers to activate cameras during any enforcement interaction: traffic stops, arrests, use-of-force incidents, and calls involving potential criminal activity. The SPVM is expected to adopt similar activation triggers, though the exact policy language covering discretionary situations (routine conversations, informal community contacts) hasn’t been published in full. This is the detail that determines whether footage exists when it’s needed most. A policy that leaves activation to officer discretion during high-stress encounters tends to produce more gaps in the record than one with mandatory triggers tied to specific call types.
Who can request footage under Quebec’s access-to-information rules
You can file a request for footage that involves you directly under Quebec’s Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies. That doesn’t mean every request gets granted in full. Police forces routinely redact footage to protect the identity of third parties, ongoing investigations, or officer safety information, and requests can be denied outright if release would compromise a pending case.
This is different from a blanket public release model. Journalists and advocacy groups seeking footage tied to a specific incident, particularly one involving a death or serious injury, may need to go through both the access-to-information process and, in some cases, litigation if the SPVM resists disclosure. The coroner’s office can also compel release of footage during an inquiry, which is part of why the Cruz case became a pressure point in the first place.
Retention periods and deletion policy
Retention periods for body camera footage vary widely across Canadian forces, typically ranging from 30 days for routine, non-evidentiary footage up to several years for footage tied to a criminal investigation, complaint, or use-of-force incident. The SPVM hasn’t published final retention schedules for its 2026 program, but the pattern elsewhere suggests tiered retention: short windows for routine footage, extended holds for anything flagged as evidence.
The Montreal insult bylaw police controversy adds pressure for oversight
Montreal’s municipal bylaw permitting police to fine people for insulting officers has become an unlikely companion issue to the camera rollout. The Montreal insult bylaw police enforcement power lets officers issue tickets to individuals who use insulting language toward them during an interaction, a provision civil liberties groups have criticized as vague and open to inconsistent enforcement.
What the bylaw allows officers to enforce
The bylaw gives SPVM officers discretion to fine residents for verbal conduct deemed insulting or disrespectful during a police interaction. The standard is subjective by design: what one officer considers an insult, another might treat as a heated but lawful complaint. Because enforcement relies entirely on the officer’s account of what was said and how, there’s no independent record of the exchange unless a bystander happens to be filming.
Why critics link it to the push for camera accountability
That’s exactly the gap body cameras are supposed to close. If an officer issues a ticket under the insult bylaw, footage from a body camera would provide an objective record of the exchange rather than relying on the officer’s written report alone. Advocacy groups have pointed to the bylaw as evidence that Montreal needs cameras precisely because so much of day-to-day policing involves judgment calls that currently go undocumented. The overlap between the bylaw controversy and the camera rollout timeline isn’t a coincidence: both surfaced around the same time, part of the same debate over police discretion and oversight in the city.
How Montreal compares to other Canadian forces
Montreal isn’t the first major Canadian city to adopt body cameras, and the comparison to other forces shows how far behind Quebec has fallen and what the SPVM can learn from other rollouts.
| Force | Officers equipped | Rollout status | Footage request process |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPVM (Montreal) | ~3,500 | Rollout begins 2026 | Quebec access-to-information law, request-based |
| Toronto Police Service | Force-wide | Fully deployed | Formal request through TPS Access and Privacy unit |
| OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) | Partial, expanding | Phased rollout | Varies by detachment, provincial access rules |
| Calgary Police Service | Force-wide | Fully deployed | Alberta FOIP request process |
Toronto Police body-worn camera policy and TPS footage requests
The Toronto Police body-worn camera policy requires activation during most enforcement interactions and has been in force long enough to generate a track record of both use and controversy. TPS footage requests go through the service’s access and privacy unit, and Toronto has faced its own criticism over redaction practices and delays in releasing footage tied to high-profile incidents. Still, having a mature policy in place means Toronto’s framework offers Montreal a working template rather than a blank page.
OPP body cameras and the patchwork of provincial rules
OPP body cameras have rolled out unevenly across Ontario, with some detachments equipped well before others. That patchwork points to a bigger issue in Canadian policing: there’s no national standard governing when cameras must be used, how footage is stored, or how access requests are handled. Each province, and often each municipal force within a province, sets its own rules.
Why Quebec has lagged behind other provinces
Quebec has trailed provinces like Ontario and Alberta on body camera adoption for years, a gap one online commentator summed up bluntly: “I don’t know the issue at all. All I assume is that it’s a mix of political indifference, lack of will from law enforcement, and budget constraints.” That assessment lines up with what the public record shows: SPVM ran a feasibility pilot years ago, produced no binding commitment, and only moved forward after a coroner’s report tied to a death forced the issue onto the political agenda.
Frequently asked questions
Do Montreal police wear body cameras?
Not yet, as of this rollout announcement. The SPVM ran pilot projects to test the technology, but officers do not currently wear body cameras during regular patrol. That changes starting with the SPVM body camera rollout 2026, when 3,500 officers will be equipped, though full activation on the street may take additional time after equipment arrives.
Can you request police bodycam footage in Canada?
Yes, if the footage involves you directly, through your province’s access-to-information or freedom-of-information legislation. In Quebec, that’s the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies. Requests can be redacted or denied to protect third parties, ongoing investigations, or officer safety, so approval isn’t automatic.
Are police bodycams always recording?
No. Most Canadian body camera policies, including the framework expected for the SPVM, require officers to manually activate cameras during specific interactions like traffic stops, arrests or use-of-force incidents. Continuous recording throughout a shift isn’t standard practice due to privacy concerns and data storage costs.
Do all cops wear body cameras now?
No. Adoption varies widely by force and province. Toronto and Calgary have fully deployed programs, the OPP has a phased rollout across Ontario detachments, and Quebec forces including the SPVM are only beginning full deployment in 2026. There’s no national mandate requiring every Canadian police officer to wear one.
How long do police body cameras last?
Camera hardware typically lasts three to five years before replacement, depending on battery cycles and durability standards. Footage retention is a separate question: most policies keep routine footage for 30 to 90 days and extend retention to several years for footage tied to complaints, use-of-force incidents or active investigations. The SPVM has not yet published its final retention schedule ahead of the 2026 rollout.
Watch the activation policy and retention schedule the SPVM publishes before cameras go live. Those two documents, more than the $17-million budget or the 3,500 unit count, will determine whether this rollout actually changes how Montreal police are held accountable.