E/CN.4/2000/16 page 14 C. Canada Communications dated 12 February 1996 47. According to reports sent to the Special Rapporteur, “Quebec’s population has split after the referendum on sovereignty on 30 October 1995” (No: 50.6 per cent, yes: 49.4 per cent; turnout: 94 per cent) and that “several radical movements have since come into being and expressions of racism, xenophobia and intolerance have allegedly multiplied”. 48. According to the reports, “the constitutional debate is increasingly marked by emotional outbursts, and statements are increasingly polarized. Each of the contending parties accuses its adversary or adversaries of racism or even fascism. More and more movements have emerged, leading to a radicalization of the debate and (conflicting) territorial claims”. The situation is described as “disturbing”. Government reply (extract) 49. The Government considers that Canada’s laws and judicial system ensure adequate, accessible and effective protection for all Canadians against manifestations of racism, discrimination or xenophobia. It stresses that a complaint of this nature to an international body is neither justified nor necessary in the present context. It also wishes to stress that the domestic judicial system has the capacity and the competence to respond to complaints of this type and is in a position to grant appropriate compensation should they prove valid. In the case in question, no domestic judicial remedy has been sought by the complainants regarding these allegations. The Canadian Government considers that the said allegations should first be examined by the Canadian judicial system before recourse is had to international machinery. Lastly, the Canadian Government is aware of and concerned by the various manifestations of racism and intolerance and considers that a state of vigilance should be maintained so that problems of this kind, from which no society is safe, can be faced up to and eliminated. D. Spain 1. Case 1999/1: Allegations of abuses of authority and racially motivated acts of aggression by the police (a) Gerona 50. The Investigation and Action Group on Ethnic Minorities (GRAMC) reports that immigrants are subjected to harassment by the police (5 March 1997). According to certain sources of information, during recent months the police have launched a campaign of random identity checks of immigrants; they have been checking the identity papers of individuals standing in queues at the offices of the civil government responsible for the issue of permits and of selected adolescents aged 15 or 16 at school entrances. In addition, the officials of the GRAMC state that the police attempted forcibly to enter four flats occupied by immigrants at Santa Coloma de Farners looking for individuals without papers. The Civil Governor, Robert Brell, denies these allegations and states that immigrants are treated with “extreme courtesy”.