The provincial government is expected to introduce legislation this afternoon in Victoria that will end police self-investigation in B.C.
David Eby, the executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said the legislation is based on some of the recommendations resulting from the Robert Dziekanski and Frank Paul inquiries.
Dziekanksi died in 2007 after a confrontation with RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport. Paul froze to death in 1998 after being removed from the city’s drunk tank and placed on the streets.
Eby said he’s unsure of many of the specifics of the legislation, particularly whether or not it will apply to both the RCMP and municipal police forces in the province.
Regardless, he said the B.C. Liberties Association, which has long-called for an end to police self-investigation in cases of serious injury or death, welcomes the news.
” I think it shows that the years of advocacy that our organization and many other have done on ending police self-investigation has finally been heard,” he said. “I think it will help restore public confidence in police if the body is set up in the right way, that is, if it is truly independent of police.”
The announcement is expected to be made at 3 p.m.
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