New Police Accountability Unit established in BC for Indigenous people

Indigenous people in British Columbia who have been affected by police violence, misconduct, or negligence can now access free legal support through the BC First Nations Justice Council.

First launched as a pilot program in 2024, the Police Accountability Unit (PAU) was created to give Indigenous communities a more meaningful role in police oversight and accountability in the province.

“It’s great that they are trying to do something now. It only took so many Indigenous people to die in the hands of law enforcement,” said Martha Martin of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation.

“It’s sad that it’s taken this long for it to come.”

Martin is the mother of Chantel Moore, the 26-year-old Tla-o-qui-aht woman who was shot and killed by Edmundston Police Force officer Jeremy Son in her New Brunswick home during a wellness check on June 4, 2020.

Five months after Chantel’s death, Martin’s son, Mike Martin, died while in the custody of the Surrey Pretrial Centre.

“I hope that the (PAU) can respond to them in a timely fashion and not have the waiting. The hardest thing for me has been the waiting: waiting to have answers, waiting for the coroner,” she said.

“To not have those answers just makes time drag,” she said.

As of May 2026, the PAU had 83 active files and 114 closed files. Among active files, nearly half involve use of force, eight involve illegal arrest and detention, 11 involve illegal search and seizure, and six involve wellness checks.

“Indigenous people are grossly, disproportionately overrepresented among people who are suffering violence at the hands of police misconduct,” said Alexander Kirby, the managing lawyer for the PAU, a team made up of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff members.

In 2024, nine Indigenous people were killed by police across Canada in a 20-day period (Aug. 29 to Sept. 18, 2024), according to the Justice Council. Research shows that while Indigenous people make up 5.1% of Canada's population, they represent 16.2% of the total number of police-involved deaths.

“We’re very excited to get this launched, finally. We’ve already had a huge demand for it. It’s an unfortunate reality, but we expect we’ll get a lot more and we will need to grow from here to meet that demand,” said Kirby.

Alexander Kirby is the managing lawyer for the Police Accountability Unit.

On Feb. 27, 2021, two RCMP officers responded to a call that alleged a female was sexually assaulted and being held against her will by two males at an address in Opitsaht on Meares Island, according to a report from the province's police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office (IIO). The visit resulted in the shooting death of 28-year-old Julian Jones.

On July 8, 2021, five months after the fatal shooting of Jones, Jared Lowndes, 38, a Wet’suwet’en man from the nation’s Laksilyu (Small Frog) Clan, was shot and killed by RCMP at a Tim Hortons parking lot in Campbell River.

In Jones’ case, the IIO found the police to not be at fault.

In Lowndes’ case, the IIO determined that “reasonable grounds” existed to consider charges against the three RCMP officers. However, the BC Prosecution Service declined to pursue charges.

In 2023, the police watchdog agency Alberta Serious Incident Response Team was hired by the BC Government to lead an investigation into allegations that some Prince George RCMP officers sexually abused Indigenous women and girls in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Cloy-e-iis (Dr. Judith Sayers) is a Justice Council director and president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. She said one of the most important aspects of the PAU will be to document an ongoing “pattern” of Indigenous people being harmed by police.

“We are looking to help people who have been abused by the police,” said Cloy-e-iis. “There are a lot of people who are scared to bring a complaint against the police in case there is backlash or they just don’t know how to do it or they don’t know what their rights are. Hopefully they or their families will encourage them to go to the Police Accountability Unit.”

She called the PAU a “trauma-informed and culturally sensitive” service.

“Now police know they can’t get away with behaviour that is unacceptable. I’m hoping it will make some of the police officers think a second or a third time about treating some of the people how they do,” Cloy-e-iis continued.

‍

Judith Sayers, BC First Nations Justice Council director and president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council

The launch of the PAU follows RCMP efforts to increase transparency in policing and improve accountability by equipping officers with body-worn cameras.

As of February 2026, cameras have been deployed to officers at 90 of 185 detachments throughout the province with about 1,650 cameras now being used by frontline members, according to the BC RCMP.

Another positive development in policing came in 2023 out of a partnership between the Victoria Police Department and Island Health to create a Co-Response Team where an officer and a psychiatric nurse work together to help de-escalate calls related to mental health or crisis.

Martin said the Co-Response Team was started in honour of Chantel.

Kirby said police accountability service is a legal service that “absolutely” should be available to everyone, but he was unaware of any other nonprofit championing this systematic legal approach. He said it’s uncommon for private-sector lawyers to take on this type of work because it doesn’t pay that well.

“The end result of that is that unless people represent themselves and advocate for themselves, there is a huge amount of police misconduct that simply goes unchallenged,” Kirby said.

“A disproportionate amount of that (police misconduct) is directed against Indigenous people, but it exists across the board,” he continued.

Any First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals with a police-related issue can self-refer to the PAU at any time by completing the online intake form.

Kirby says the PAU team will help individuals “navigate legal tools” available, whether it be a civil case or a case with a criminal dimension.

“That could mean advocating to the IIO (Independent Investigations Office) to investigate the matter thoroughly and possibly refer charges to the Crown. It could also involve pursuing some sort of civil action. It all depends on the facts of the case and what the family or individual wants to do,” he said.

Kirby said there are time limits that apply to the legal process; there can be exceptions, so it’s always worth reaching out.

“As a general rule, the time limits are one year to file a police complaint, two years to file a lawsuit. It gets more complicated than that. If anyone has any doubts, the best thing to do would be to reach out to us. At bare minimum, what we can do is give someone summary advice about what their rights are,” Kirby said.

The PAU is funded by a grant from the Law Foundation of BC. The Justice Council’s services include 16 Indigenous justice centres, an Indigenous Diversion Centre located in Prince George, and Gladue writing services.