Tag Archives: Police Racism

Justice

One-on-one with the leader of a special RCMP unit tasked with policing opposition to industrial projects in B.C.

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

“Beyond troubling” is how John Brewer, chief superintendent and gold commander of the RCMP’s controversial  Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), described the conduct of some  of his officers after reviewing audio recorded in the minutes following police arrests of land defenders and journalists in November. 

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Indigenous Nations

RCMP were planning raids while in talks with Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs about meeting

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

The images are familiar now, iconic even: Heavily armed RCMP officers use an axe and a chainsaw to break down the  door of a tiny house. 

Indigenous land defenders, their faces  marked with red handprints to symbolize Missing and Murdered Indigenous  Women and Girls, stand inside with arms raised as police aim  high-calibre rifles at them. 

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Forests, Justice, Opinion

Fairy Creek and Lyell Island: Policing Then & Now

When Justice Douglas Thompson refused to extend an injunction against old-growth defenders blocking a logging road at Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island, his decision made headlines around the world.

Justice Thompson referred explicitly in his decision to “enforcement […] carried out by police officers rendered anonymous to the protesters, many of those police officers wearing ‘thin blue line’ badges.” The significance of this language may not be clear to every reader; but the judge’s reasoning was important — to more than just the struggle over the fate of the pathetic remnants (one or two percent) of BC’s old-growth forests.

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Indigenous Nations, Justice

RCMP lack of training may have led to Indigenous deaths

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CKTZ News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Chief Darren Blaney, of the Homalco Nation, suggests that six months training is not enough to equip the Campbell River RCMP to deal with intense situations like that which led to the recent shooting of Jared Lowndes.

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