Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Vancouver mayor calls on Premier Horgan for review of policing in B.C.

Review should include investigation of ‘systemic racism and disproportional violence’ experienced by Black and Indigenous people
kennedy-stewart-creditjennifergauthier
Mayor Kennedy Stewart called on Premier John Horgan Thursday to conduct a comprehensive review of policing in British Columbia. File photo Jennifer Gauthier

Mayor Kennedy Stewart called Thursday on Premier John Horgan to have his government conduct a comprehensive review of policing in British Columbia, including the Vancouver Police Department.

The review should include an investigation of “systemic racism and disproportional violence experienced by Black and Indigenous” people, said Stewart at a news conference at city hall.

The mayor said he directed his call at the provincial government because the city and the police board are limited in what they can do to make “structural change” to policing, including at the Vancouver Police Department.

“The province’s Police Act requires us to more or less rubber stamp police budgets outside minimal discretionary spending,” he said.

“If cities say no, the province can — as it has in the past — step in and override that decision.”

Stewart, who doubles as chairperson of the police board, said the board provides civilian governance and oversight of policing, but has a small budget to provide that oversight, with the operations of the VPD left to Police Chief Adam Palmer.

The mayor outlined the various responsibilities and controls the provincial government has over policing, including determining how much funding municipalities must provide to local police.

The province also determines the training for municipal police officers, sets province-wide policing standards and is the creator of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner and Independent Investigations Office.

All but one of the Vancouver police board’s members — Wendy Grant-John — are appointed by the provincial government, which has power to amend the Police Act, including changes to use-of-force policies.

The mayor said the review should examine the impacts policing has on people with mental illness, low-income people, the homeless, drug users, sex workers, women, two-spirit, queer, trans and gender-diverse people.

“As stewards of our social safety net, the provincial government is best placed to examine how we can better balance investments in safety, criminal justice and policing with investments in more community-based approaches to mental health, youth outreach, poverty and homelessness,” he said.

The move by Stewart comes as campaigns mount in the city to “defund the police.” The VPD’s budget was $193 million in 2010 and increased to $314 million in 2020, most of the increase related to salaries and benefits.

A local campaign launched a petition this week at change.org and had collected 862 signatures as of Thursday to “defund” the VPD. The petition calls on the city and police board to devise ways to put more money into social services, without taking away from core police work.

“That’s why I want a review here,” Stewart told Glacier Media in an interview prior to his news conference.

“Even if Vancouver city council decided that they wanted to move money from the police to the provision of social services, we can’t do it because the province requires a certain amount of funding to policing by law, and we are bound by that law.”

That said, the mayor acknowledged a call that currently goes to police about a homeless person sleeping under the awning of a business would be better suited to be handled by another agency.

“I would love that call to go to a homelessness speciality team jointly run between the province and the city, and that person is immediately put into safer surroundings,” he said.

“But again, we would need a commitment from the provincial government for all aspects of that change.”

Asked a question that many politicians and police leaders are getting this week — Is there systemic racism within police departments? — the mayor answered that he believes there is systemic racism in all institutions in Canada.

“The police, in general, are established to enforce the law — that’s their job, and that’s what they’re trained to do,” he said.

“And the laws in this country have and [continue to] reinforce colonialism, and they’ve been based on racism — straight-up.”

The mayor pointed out councils of the past enacted legislation that was racist against Chinese people and people of colour. It wasn’t until 2018 that the Gregor Robertson-led council formally apologized to the Chinese community for historical discrimination.

In advance of the mayor’s news conference, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs issued a news release Thursday calling on Stewart to immediately put a stop to street checks in Vancouver.

The mayor said the province’s review of policing should examine diversity and training within policing services and oversight bodies. It should also examine the “efficacy and funding model for body worn cameras by all police in British Columbia, and ending street checks.”

“This is a watershed moment,” Stewart said.

“Black, Indigenous and people of colour across our province expect people like me and the premier to use our privilege and our power to do something profound — and I truly believe that we can.”

This is not the first time both the agencies representing British Columbians’ civil liberties and Indigenous people have asked for street checks to stop. Street checks occur when an officer stops a person to conduct an interview or investigation in regards to suspicious activity, or a suspected crime.

An independent consultant’s review of the VPD’s practice of street checks, which was released in February, was unable to conclude that officers were motivated by racism or bias when stopping a person on the street.

The police board ordered the review last fall after both associations accused the department of discrimination after police data showed an overrepresentation of Indigenous and Black people checked between 2008 and 2017.

“This review of street checks, consistent with other [Canadian police department] reviews, found that the available data and information could neither confirm nor deny police racism or bias,” said the consultant’s report was authored by Ruth Montgomery, a former Edmonton police superintendent, and four other people including Curt Taylor Griffiths of Simon Fraser University’s School of Criminology.

The review included interviews and focus groups with representatives of 36 Vancouver community organizations, including activists and advocates for people targeted in street checks.

Several organizations declined to participate, including Black Lives Matter, SisterWatch, the DTES Women’s Centre, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, the Jewish Community Centre, Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association and Afro Connect.

“It is not known if or how the outcomes of the review may have differed if more or a different group of participants had elected to take part in the study,” the report said.

[email protected]

@Howellings