What Happened to BC’s Plans for Police Reform?

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What Happened to BC’s Plans for Police Reform? – The Tyee

by ahnationtalk on January 23, 202512 Views

Jan 23, 2025

The NDP released their ministerial mandate letters last week. What’s missing? Any mention of overhauling the Police Act.

Nearly five years after the B.C. government struck a special committee to consult and make recommendations on improving policing in the province, progress appears to have ground to a halt.

In June 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, B.C.’s then-public safety minister, Mike Farnworth, responded to calls for police reform by announcing the province would strike an all-party committee to review the Police Act, calling the existing act “outdated” and “out of step” with the government’s current approach.

“Everyone deserves to be treated fairly by the police, and our government acknowledges that for many Black, Indigenous and other people of colour, that hasn’t always been the case,” Farnworth said in the statement. “Ensuring the police are held accountable to the highest standards for fair and unbiased conduct is crucial to maintaining public trust.”