The First Nation’s Leadership Council wants the province to hold a public inquiry into police killings of Indigenous people, and the lack of prosecutions for officers involved.
This comes after the BC Prosecution Service dropped charges against officers involved in the killing of Wet’suwet’en man Jared Lowndes in Campbell River, as well as those involved in the death of. Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan man Dale Culver, and an October 2023 announcement that no charges were approved against the RCMP officers who killed Everett Patrick of the Lake Babine Nation in 2020.
Lowndes’ mother, Laura Holland says it’s time for change.
“It is time we had a look at the archaic, racist policies, procedures & laws that are upheld by the BCPS and Law Enforcement that maim, injure and kill Indigenous people in B.C. and Canada. For too long, the BCPS has been permitted to hide behind these unjust policies, procedures, and laws to protect the police officers who commit crimes, inflicting pain and punishment on Indigenous people.”
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Grand Chief Stewart Philip calls the decision a “gross, racist miscarriage of justice”.
“We demand a public inquiry into the suspicious deaths of Indigenous peoples by the very individuals who are supposed to be protecting us. Based on these factual experiences, we have very little faith in this so-called justice system.”
B.C.’s police watchdog highlights lack of prosecutions against police
Ron MacDonald, Civilian Director of the Independent Investigations Office says his office is preparing a report for the province that will recommend changes to the way cases of police violence are prosecuted.
“I’m not actually criticizing the specific decision being made by the crown in the Jared Lowndes case,” he said. “What I am doing is highlighting the statistics of how our cases from the IIO are being handled by the B.C. prosecution service. Those numbers are significant and are such that they raise questions in the mind of the public. Those types of questions could cause the public to lose faith in the system of accountability we have, and therefore I’m asking the minister’s office to look into the matter.”
MacDonald says over the last five years his office forwarded 39 cases of police violence to the BC Prosecution service, and only 18 have been approved for charges. He adds that since the IIO was created in 2012, 15 cases where charges had been approved but failed to result in convictions after they were contested by police.
“There have been cases where police have pled guilty. But, in cases where they have pled guilty, 15 times the matter has come forward and in exactly zero of those cases have they resulted in conviction,” MacDonald said.
MacDonald says his report — which is not yet completed — will outline steps for the province to make improvements to the way police violence cases are prosecuted, and he’s confident action will be taken.
“I believe the public can have faith in our investigations, but the numbers are such that the public ought to have questions. Those questions need to be addressed and answered. And based on my experience with the ministry, I believe that’s going to occur. We’ll have to wait and see of course.”
CityNews has reached out to the province for comment but did not hear back by publication deadline. This story will be updated once a response is received.