The impacts of police and policing

Recommendation 1: The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General and the Attorney General, working in full partnership with historically marginalized communities and communities with high levels of police interactions, must develop a set of guiding values and principles for policing in British Columbia that are grounded in human rights.

The impacts of police and policing

The Attorney General must take immediate action to increase access to justice for people who believe they have been the victims of excessive force, discrimination, or harassment by police by:

Recommendation 3: Amending the Police Act to expand the mandate of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) in order to:

1. ensure that all police officers and forces operating in BC fall under the mandate of the OPCC;
2. ensure that civilian investigators and civilian staff members are responsible for the entirety of the complaint resolution process; and
3. allow the OPCC to audit police complaints each year, particularly where they involve discrimination based on race, gender, poverty, or health status, and publicly report on areas of concern for further investigation or reform.

The impacts of police and policing

Recommendation 9: The Director of Police Services must work with the Independent Investigations Office and the Coroners Service to audit deaths and serious injuries in city cells in BC over the past 10 years, including an analysis of race, disability, housing status, and gender, and, make the findings and recommendations for reform publicly available.

How court-imposed conditions set people up to fail

The Governments of BC and Canada must amend their prosecutorial policy, specifically:

Recommendation 13: Amend the BC Crown Counsel Policy Manual to include a policy on “Conditions of Release” that:

1. aligns with the Criminal Code requirement that an accused be released unconditionally unless their detention or the imposition of conditions is justified;
2. reflects Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence requiring that conditions of release be minimally onerous and that every imposition of more restrictive conditions must be individually justified; and
3. takes into consideration the potential harms of imposing certain conditions on some individuals based on their social condition, race, ability status, housing status, and substance use.

How court-imposed conditions set people up to fail

The Governments of BC and Canada must amend their prosecutorial policy, specifically:

Recommendation 15: Amend the Public Prosecution Service of Canada Deskbook Part 3.18 sections 2 and 5 to:

1. more clearly reflect the Criminal Code requirement that an accused be released unconditionally unless their detention or the imposition of conditions is justified; and
2. take into consideration the potential harms of imposing certain conditions on certain individuals based on their social condition, race, ability status, housing status, and substance use. ii. take into consideration the potential harms of imposing certain conditions on certain individuals based on their social condition, race, ability status, housing status, and substance use.

Service gaps and barriers

Recommendation 24: The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and the Ministry of Health must improve the ability of BC hospitals to meet the needs of people living with the effects of substance use, mental illness, and/or homelessness by:

• auditing experiences in hospitals, beginning with an analysis of people’s experiences where they have been turned away from emergency rooms or discharged and where there have been negative health consequences;
• working with people with lived experience to audit provincial standards for effectively managing substance withdrawal in hospital settings;
• ensuring that all hospitals offer supervised consumption services to patients; and
• working with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to create transitional housing options to ensuring that sick and injured people are not released from the hospital to the streets or to emergency shelter.

Service gaps and barriers

The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction must make immediate changes to BC’s Income Assistance and Disability Assistance programs including:

Recommendation 25: Increasing income assistance rates to the Market Basket Measure and indexing them to inflation.

Service gaps and barriers

The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction must make immediate changes to BC’s Income Assistance and Disability Assistance programs including:

Recommendation 26: Reviewing the processes that are currently in place for reporting “welfare fraud” to provide greater accountability and ensure that people receiving income assistance are not denied survival income without due process.

Service gaps and barriers

The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction must make immediate changes to BC’s Income Assistance and Disability Assistance programs including:

Recommendation 27: Increasing access to in-person services for income assistance and disability applicants.

Service gaps and barriers

The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction must make immediate changes to BC’s Income Assistance and Disability Assistance programs including:

Recommendation 28: Ensuring that people living with disabilities can access disability support by:

1. simplifying the application process to reduce wait times and lessen reliance on advocates;
2. providing provincial guidelines for doctors/service providers on how and when to fill out disability forms; and
3. ensuring that hospital social workers are resourced and directed to work with patients in need to apply for disability benefits.