Shoplifting in Quebec: what a merchant may do, and what is off limits
A merchant may intervene, hold a person and file a complaint — within limits. Beyond those limits, the merchant commits a fault. Where the line is.
A merchant may intervene, hold a person and file a complaint — within limits. Beyond those limits, the merchant commits a fault. Where the line is.
Theft is a crime; the merchant's response is regulated
Stealing from a store is a criminal offence, but a merchant who suspects theft has no unlimited power: surveillance must be reasonable, evidence must exist, and the decision to prosecute belongs to the justice system.
What a merchant may do
Observe and document (cameras, witnesses), intervene reasonably to ask for the goods back and hold the person long enough to call the police when the legal conditions for a citizen's arrest are met, call the police, and file a complaint.
What a merchant may not do
Search a person (a bodily search is a police power), hold someone on a mere impression, on a profile, or longer than necessary, demand an on-the-spot "fine" or payment in exchange for dropping the complaint, or impose a store ban based on a discriminatory ground.
If you are wrongly accused
Stay calm and ask for the police; ask to see the evidence; keep the receipt, the photos, the names and the witnesses; write to the store for its written version of the facts; then consider a complaint to the human rights commission or a civil claim for the damage suffered.
Official sources
- Criminal Code of Canada
- Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
- Office de la protection du consommateur