BC Human Rights Commission – Released written submission, “Equity is Safer: Human rights considerations for policing reform in British Columbia,” to the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act (SCORPA), which makes recommendations to address a disturbing pattern of discrimination in policing in our province.
BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner’s (BCOHRC) includes expert analysis of data from five police jurisdictions that reveals disturbing racial disparities in policing activities across B.C. The submission makes 29 recommendations for reforming policing in B.C. to reduce systemic discrimination and improve safety.

The Commissioner’s recommendations centre on:

• realizing B.C.’s obligations to Indigenous peoples
• implementing a human rights-based approach to the collection of disaggregated data
• reforming the practice of street checks
• de-tasking the police
• improving police accountability

The report also includes expert analysis of data from the Vancouver Police Department, the Nelson Police Department and the Surrey, Duncan and Prince George RCMP detachments, which were selected to represent different communities with varied demographic populations in distinct parts of the province.